Roseanne Barr Dropped by ICM Partners After Racist Tweet

ICM Partners has dropped Roseanne Barr following her racist tweet about former Obama senior adviser Valerie Jarrett.

“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,” the agency wrote Tuesday in an internal note to all employees. “Consequently, we have notified her that we will not represent her. Effective immediately, Roseanne Barr is no longer a client.”

Earlier Tuesday morning, Barr replied to a tweet about Jarrett: “Muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj.” Her now-deleted tweet referenced an age-old racist trope comparing black people to simians. The tweet prompted swift outcry online, including from members of the Hollywood community. The outspoken, controversial Roseanne creator and star initially defended her words as “a joke,” then later issued an apology: “I apologize to Valerie Jarrett and to all Americans. I am truly sorry for making a bad joke about her politics and her looks.”

But the damage was done. Roseanne writer and consulting producer Wanda Sykes on Tuesday tweeted her resignation from the show, and a little over an hour later ABC Entertainment president Channing Dungey canceled the hit comedy, whose first revived season set viewership records and prompted a swift renewal for season two.

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