Kenya Barris (@funnyblackdude), creator of ABC's #Blackish, says he was ready to "go crazy" after Roseanne Barr's racist tweet https://t.co/45RRFReYed #PathToParity pic.twitter.com/ZNL7Iy6O6r
— Variety (@Variety) June 6, 2018
“Black-ish” creator Kenya Barris was ready to go on a public relations warpath against ABC following Roseanne Barr’s racist tweet about a former Barack Obama adviser.
Barris recently spoke out in response to the network pulling the plug on the highly-successful “Roseanne” reboot after its namesake star likened Valerie Jarrett to an ape.
“I was literally coming out of the show and I was like f— this. I was going to go crazy,” Barris said Wednesday, June 6 at Variety magazine’s Path to Parity summit. “I was going to call my agent and go on Don Lemon and other shows.”
Before then, he called up ABC Entertainment president Channing Dungey, Disney/ABC Television Group chief Ben Sherwood, and ABC Studios president Patrick Moran to say, “’I’m sorry guys’ and then I have to say, the response came in minutes.”
Dungy issued a statement on May 29 saying the network canceled “Roseanne” over her “abhorrent” and “repugnant” remarks.
“It was amazing. Having Channing at the head and having [Disney CEO] Bob [Iger] be supportive” was significant, according to Barris. And while he applauded ABC and Disney execs for making the right decision, he wondered why Barr was back on the air given her rhetoric.
He noted Barr’s tweet was “an indefensible moment but at the same time, you hired a monster and then you asked why the monster was killing villagers.”
In response to Barris’ remarks, some fans had some negative feelings.
“That’s why I didn’t understand why the Black woman got applauded for firing Roseanne but escaped getting blamed for hiring her.”
“And now look at the very unfunny, don’t care to spend a half hour to watch a family separate, ‘Black-ish.'”
“But they’re fine with liberal actors ranting their hate.”
