“Morning Joe” host Joe Scarborough has congratulated ABC on Twitter for canceling “Roseanne,” even though it is one of the season’s top rating hits and is minting millions for the network and its parent, The Walt Disney Company.
BREAKING: @ABC and @Disney do the right thing. There are still boundaries in the Age of Trump that cannot be crossed. Thank you for putting values above money.
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) May 29, 2018
The key here is that ABC and Disney put “values above money” which is very unusual in the cutthroat entertainment business.
Scarborough had earlier tweeted his revulsion after seeing Barr’s initial racist tweet about former Obama aide Valerie Jarrett and called on ABC to stop airing the sitcom.
Hey @ABC, Roseanne Barr compared Valerie Jarrett to an ape. There is no apology she can make that justifies @ABC turning a blind eye to this bigotry by airing another second of her show.
Even in the Age of Trump, there are red lines that can never be crossed. This is one.— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) May 29, 2018
Scarborough, a former Republican Congressman and one-time Trump supporter, has turned against the president since he took office and become one of his most outspoken critics.
Now, he is once again out-front on the breaking story and on top of it when his message to the network became a reality.
Scarborough may not have made ABC cancel “Roseanne,” but it was his voice and others, and a sense that what Barr had said was completely inappropriate, that lent itself to the cancellation.
It is one thing to go on TV and challenge the actions of politicians and quite another to make crude racist remarks that are a blatant and vile affront to our diverse society.
That is something “Morning Joe” instinctively understands.
