Roseanne Barr’s

Twitter Scandal

Bri Benson & Jimena Carrasco

 Who is Roseanne Barr?
● Roseanne Barr is an American actress who started out her career in stand-up.
She starred in movies but she is most commonly known for starring in her self
titled show, Roseanne
● Roseanne aired from 1988-1997 with a reboot in 2018. Barr received many
awards including Emmys for the production of the show and for being one of
the first shows to break traditional family format
● In 2011, Barr announced her presidential run with a nomination of the Green
Party, she lost her nomination to Jill Stein
 The ABC Television Network

● Known for having a diverse set of shows

● Shows speak on different issues
● Set a “diversity standard” for other networks to match
● President is Channing Dungey, she became the first African-American president
in 2016
 Media Industry Background

● Presently a time where more people are speaking up about issues

● Racism in Film and TV has been called out and discussed amongst various
groups
● Higher expectations have been put on television networks to do better
● An example of today’s Media Industry is Norm Macdonald, a comedian who
was set to appear on NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. He had
criticized the #MeToo Movement and defended Louis C.K. and Roseanne
Barr
Roseanne Barr Tweet
 The Nature of the Issue

Crisis Management Stage

● Out of control issue that both ABC and Roseanne have to deal with
● Barr was not media trained enough to be prepared for the situation
● The tweet is now on the internet and published, so she can’t take it back by
deleting it
● It’s now only a matter of cleaning up what she did
● From this situation, the only thing they can do is react
Key Publics
● ABC
● Viewers of ABC shows
● Cast and crew of the show
● News sources
● TV watchers
● Twitter users
● Social justice activists
● Fans of the show
● Valerie Jarrett
● ICM, Roseanne’s talent agency
● Viacom
● Sanofi
● Other networks (NBC, CBS, etc.)
 ABC’s Reponse
● Hours after Roseanne Barr’s racist tweet regarding Valerie Jarrett, ABC
cancelled Roseanne
● In a statement, ABC’s entertainment president, Channing Dungey, said,
“Roseanne’s Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with
our values.”
● ABC decided to remove all links to Roseanne on its press website and Viacom,
a mass media company, decided to remove reruns
● Despite the show bringing in an estimated
amount of $45 million, ABC decided to cancel
the show
 Apology Tweets
"I begged Ben Sherwood at ABC to let me apologize
and make amend. I begged them not to cancel the
show. I told them I was willing to do anything and
asked for help in making things right. I'd worked
doing publicity for them for free for weeks, traveling,
thru bronchitis. I begged for people's jobs."

"Guys I did something unforgivable so do not defend

me, It was 2 in the morning and I was ambien tweetin. It
was Memorial Day too. I went too far and do not want it
defended-it was egregious Indefensible. I made a
mistake I wish I hadn't but...don't defend it please. Ty."
Sanofi Response
Roseanne’s Talent Agency, ICM

"We are all greatly distressed by the disgraceful and unacceptable tweet from
Roseanne Barr this morning… What she wrote is antithetical to our core values,
both as individuals and as an agency. Consequently, we have notified her that we
will not represent her. Effective immediately, Roseanne Barr is no longer a client."
Cast Response
Cast Response
 Valerie Jarrett’s Response

Jarrett believes that, “We have to turn it into a teaching moment.”

https://www.cnn.com/videos/cnnmoney/2018/05/29/valerie-jarrett
-responds-to-roseanne-ebof.cnn/video/playlists/roseanne-barr/
 Response from TV Viewers
● After Barr’s racist tweet and the cancellation
of her show, many people unleashed their
opinions on ABC’s decision
○ Some thanked ABC for their response
to this tweet while others criticized the
network for getting rid of a show that
was critically praised
● Fans that still wanted to see the show move
on helped strategize new ways to create
spinoff
The Connors Spinoff
● Barr will not receive any financial compensation or have any
creative input in the series
Roseanne’s Explanation Videos

1. https://youtu.be/JNrteSAu5ys?t=42s
2. https://youtu.be/WqzheGUqZuI?t=15m11s
3. https://youtu.be/UM8zHUyCEwg
 Rationale
Significance to industry: Gives other networks, shows, actors, etc. the opportunity to
recognize that issue scanning and monitoring is very important.

Significance to ABC: This issue directly impacts them - whether or not they choose to react
creates a line in the sand for them. Teaches them how to issue manage instead of waiting for
a crisis to happen. Shows them how to be more proactive with contracts or training in the
future.

Significance to Roseanne Barr and actors like her: This teaches actors to think before they
speak. Understand that they’re their own personal brand, live in a fishbowl and seen as role
models.

Significance to strategic communication practices: This issue is a textbook example of why

we need strategic communication. Knowing how to handle crisis but also handle various
stakeholders and publics within an organization’s circle can ultimately prevent things like
this from happening again.
Consequences of the Issue

● Roseanne’s show got cancelled, Roseanne hurt her own career by getting
separated from both ABC and her management
● Cast and crew separated themselves from Roseanne as well - will be getting a
spinoff from ABC
● ABC gave up a show that was reportedly giving them a lot of views and
revenue
● Could give them a potential drop in profits in the future if The Connors
doesn’t go well
● Certain demographics from Roseanne’s political affiliation could stop
supporting the network
● Gained support from other key publics
● Roseanne could possibly go on another rant about ABC because they didn’t
end things on good terms
 Resolution

● ABC detached the network from Roseanne within hours - submitted press
release/tweet on it
● Roseanne didn’t handle it well, kept apologizing poorly in various videos
● Although cancellation, revived cast and crew via spinoff - The Connors set to
air this fall with 10 episodes - saving the company from losing profit/views
● In this era, reacting this quickly to an issue can clean up a crisis fast (for ABC),
so we believe that their strategy was effective
● Cast and crew were able to continue to work, so no harm done
● Created a social justice discussion that called for more accountability toward
Hollywood
● Through Roseanne’s perspective, she did not handle the crisis correctly and
dug herself a bigger hole through her choice to speak on behalf of herself in
both tweets and videos
 Recommendations

● Research current industry environment and take note of issues that are
happening to other people/companies in the business
● Media trained cast members to make sure that they know to watch what they
say on social media - Don’t let them blame Ambien
● Through Roseanne’s POV, we recommend that she should separate her work
from her political affiliation - don’t tweet about it/keep it private - Her image
is clearly impacted if otherwise
● Their way to combat it was smart, but they should’ve talked to Roseanne first
before making it public via Twitter - keep consistent communication through
these tough times with employees
● Channing’s response for ABC had strong wording - may want to use more
professional jargon so that people wouldn’t have an opportunity to go
after/be upset with ABC
 Questions

1. What would you have done differently if you were on Roseanne’s PR team?
2. Did ABC handle this the right way?
3. What should have ABC or Roseanne’s management done differently before
the crisis happened?
4. Is there any way to prevent a situation like this from happening in the future?
5. Do you have any PR recommendations for any key public in this issue?
6. Was it a smart PR move to continue the show without Roseanne, or should
they have let the show stay cancelled?
7. How can other networks benefit from this crisis?
8. Should Twitter be used to apologize?
Sources

● Account, R. I. (2018, September 19). Robert Iger (@RobertIger). Retrieved from https://twitter.com/RobertIger
● Channing Dungey. (2018, September 21). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Channing_Dungey
● Chow, A. R. (2018, May 29). Twitter Users Respond to Roseanne Barr's Firing. Retrieved from
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/29/arts/television/reactions-roseanne-racist-tweet.html
● Koblin, J. (2018, May 29). After Racist Tweet, Roseanne Barr's Show Is Canceled by ABC. Retrieved from
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/29/business/media/roseanne-barr-offensive-tweets.html
● Murphy, D., & Drysdale, J. (2018, June 23). Roseanne Barr Fallout: A Complete Guide to How Her Racist Tweet Led to 'Roseanne'
Cancellation and New Spinoff. Retrieved from
https://www.etonline.com/roseanne-barr-fallout-a-complete-guide-to-how-her-racist-tweet-led-to-roseanne-cancellation-and-new
● Roseanne Barr. (2018, August 28). Retrieved from https://www.biography.com/people/roseanne-barr-9463817
● Roseanne Barr. (2018, September 23). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roseanne_Barr
● F. (2018, July 26). Roseanne Barr opens up about Valerie Jarrett tweet. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqzheGUqZuI&feature=youtu.be&t=15m11s
● R. (2018, July 20). Roseanne Barr's official statement. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=66&v=UM8zHUyCEwg
● R. (2018, July 19). Roseanne explains the Valerie Jarrett tweet. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNrteSAu5ys
● The Conners Premieres TUESDAY OCTOBER 16 8|7c on ABC | ABC New Shows. (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://abc.go.com/shows/abc-new-shows/news/shows/abc-picks-up-the-connors-straight-to-series-to-premiere-this-fall
● Yandoli, K. L. (2018, September 12). Norm Macdonald Was Dropped From "The Tonight Show" After Defending Roseanne Barr And
Louis C.K. Retrieved from https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/krystieyandoli/norm-macdonald-roseanne-barr-louis-ck