1 00:00:05,255 --> 00:00:07,734 - She's a housewife from Denver, Colorado. 2 00:00:07,758 --> 00:00:09,235 Would you welcome Roseanne Barr? 3 00:00:09,259 --> 00:00:13,031 (audience cheers and applauds) 4 00:00:13,055 --> 00:00:14,157 - Oh, hi. 5 00:00:14,181 --> 00:00:16,576 Oh, hi. 6 00:00:16,600 --> 00:00:21,080 - She came in at a time women weren't really known 7 00:00:21,104 --> 00:00:24,167 for stand-up and she came in balls out, 8 00:00:24,191 --> 00:00:26,252 not afraid to say what's on her mind. 9 00:00:26,276 --> 00:00:28,213 - I've been married for 13 years 10 00:00:28,237 --> 00:00:31,466 and let me tell you, it's a thrill to be out of the house. 11 00:00:31,490 --> 00:00:33,760 - [Narrator] Roseanne Barr rocked the comedy world 12 00:00:33,784 --> 00:00:35,345 of the 1980s. 13 00:00:35,369 --> 00:00:39,182 - Like I tell my kids, sex is a normal bodily function, 14 00:00:39,206 --> 00:00:41,500 like an aneurysm or a heart attack. 15 00:00:42,334 --> 00:00:44,479 - Like every true comedian, 16 00:00:44,503 --> 00:00:47,065 you start out to express that voice inside of you 17 00:00:47,089 --> 00:00:48,566 that says, people wanna hear this. 18 00:00:48,590 --> 00:00:52,028 - If you're fat, just like be fat and shut up. 19 00:00:52,052 --> 00:00:55,240 - It's always been a certain few comedians 20 00:00:55,264 --> 00:00:57,909 that are willing to go up to the line 21 00:00:57,933 --> 00:01:00,703 and to cross over it repeatedly. 22 00:01:00,727 --> 00:01:03,623 - And if you're thin, (beep) you. 23 00:01:03,647 --> 00:01:05,208 - [Narrator] Her hit ABC sitcom 24 00:01:05,232 --> 00:01:07,794 offered a realistic portrayal of a family 25 00:01:07,818 --> 00:01:09,921 in flyover America. 26 00:01:09,945 --> 00:01:11,965 - Well, did you guys have lunch? 27 00:01:11,989 --> 00:01:14,050 - [Man] The show was iconic, she won a Golden Globe, 28 00:01:14,074 --> 00:01:14,969 she won Emmys. 29 00:01:14,993 --> 00:01:17,095 - The Roseanne show was one of a kind. 30 00:01:17,119 --> 00:01:21,224 - It's like (beep) you, this is who I am. 31 00:01:21,248 --> 00:01:24,394 - [Narrator] But Roseanne's outlandish personality 32 00:01:24,418 --> 00:01:27,438 saw her career mired in controversy. 33 00:01:27,462 --> 00:01:30,149 - If you wanna say she was far left or far right, 34 00:01:30,173 --> 00:01:31,276 it was extremes. 35 00:01:31,300 --> 00:01:33,194 - You know, she's a conspiracy person. 36 00:01:33,218 --> 00:01:35,571 - This is crazy shit, why are you watching this? 37 00:01:35,595 --> 00:01:37,156 - (grunts) I'm sick of this crap. 38 00:01:37,180 --> 00:01:38,283 - Ladies and gentlemen, Roseanne. 39 00:01:38,307 --> 00:01:41,369 - I thought the bitch was white! 40 00:01:41,393 --> 00:01:43,580 - Did they fire Roseanne? Yes. 41 00:01:43,604 --> 00:01:45,498 {\an8}- It's like watching a car wreck. 42 00:01:45,522 --> 00:01:47,667 {\an8}- She was effectively banished from Hollywood. 43 00:01:47,691 --> 00:01:49,586 {\an8}- You can't call Black people monkeys. 44 00:01:49,610 --> 00:01:51,921 - The same reason that she got in the business 45 00:01:51,945 --> 00:01:53,548 is the same reason they tried to chase her 46 00:01:53,572 --> 00:01:54,966 out of the business. 47 00:01:54,990 --> 00:01:58,428 - [Narrator] From America's housewife to persona non grata. 48 00:01:58,452 --> 00:02:00,138 - (beep) off, man. 49 00:02:00,162 --> 00:02:02,331 - [Narrator] What went wrong with Roseanne? 50 00:02:03,707 --> 00:02:04,643 - [Announcer] Ladies and gentlemen, 51 00:02:04,667 --> 00:02:06,144 you're about to be entertained. 52 00:02:06,168 --> 00:02:08,313 - [Woman] Getting a laugh is the greatest addiction. 53 00:02:08,337 --> 00:02:09,564 - [Man 1] They want more of it, they want more of it. 54 00:02:09,588 --> 00:02:10,732 - [Bob] She was getting death threats. 55 00:02:10,756 --> 00:02:11,525 - [Judy] It (beep) with your head. 56 00:02:11,549 --> 00:02:13,026 - [Man 2] He's out of his skull. 57 00:02:13,050 --> 00:02:13,944 - [Lorraine] That's what took her down. 58 00:02:13,968 --> 00:02:15,248 - [Man 3] This is a crazy story. 59 00:02:21,892 --> 00:02:24,370 {\an8}- Well, I'm from Salt Lake City, Utah, and I'm Jewish, 60 00:02:24,394 --> 00:02:26,122 {\an8}so that's why I'm like this. 61 00:02:26,146 --> 00:02:29,250 {\an8}- Roseanne grew up feeling to be an outsider 62 00:02:29,274 --> 00:02:32,378 because everybody was Mormon and she was Jewish. 63 00:02:32,402 --> 00:02:35,131 - I prefer to call those people the Nazi Amish. 64 00:02:35,155 --> 00:02:36,174 {\an8}- [Interviewer] Tell me your name 65 00:02:36,198 --> 00:02:38,009 {\an8}and what your relationship with Roseanne is. 66 00:02:38,033 --> 00:02:42,055 {\an8}- I'm Bill Pentland and I'm Roseanne's first husband. 67 00:02:42,079 --> 00:02:44,265 So she felt, as an outsider, like that, 68 00:02:44,289 --> 00:02:46,100 she never felt she belonged. 69 00:02:46,124 --> 00:02:47,019 - That is Utah. 70 00:02:47,043 --> 00:02:49,520 That is where I was born and reared more than once. 71 00:02:49,544 --> 00:02:51,230 (audience laughs) 72 00:02:51,254 --> 00:02:52,881 Thank you so much. 73 00:02:54,174 --> 00:02:57,219 (mellow country music) 74 00:03:00,180 --> 00:03:02,283 - I think a lot of the appeal that Roseanne and I had 75 00:03:02,307 --> 00:03:05,203 for each other is we did come from 76 00:03:05,227 --> 00:03:06,954 basically humbled beginnings. 77 00:03:06,978 --> 00:03:10,273 Roseanne's dad was a Sears appliance technician. 78 00:03:12,275 --> 00:03:14,212 - [Narrator] Roseanne and her father would always bond 79 00:03:14,236 --> 00:03:16,297 watching comics on late night TV. 80 00:03:16,321 --> 00:03:18,716 - Comedy was really sanctified in our house. 81 00:03:18,740 --> 00:03:20,676 Like, especially when Ed Sullivan was on. 82 00:03:20,700 --> 00:03:22,160 - Phyllis Diller. 83 00:03:24,996 --> 00:03:27,350 - I am certainly glad that Thanksgiving is over. 84 00:03:27,374 --> 00:03:28,643 I just can't tell you how bad it is. 85 00:03:28,667 --> 00:03:31,878 Do you know what they call my kitchen? The Disaster Area. 86 00:03:33,088 --> 00:03:35,233 It's either flooded or on fire. 87 00:03:35,257 --> 00:03:36,234 - And my dad would be down there 88 00:03:36,258 --> 00:03:39,177 and they'd go, "Comedian," and we'd all run. 89 00:03:40,178 --> 00:03:41,364 - [Narrator] But Roseanne's childhood 90 00:03:41,388 --> 00:03:44,033 was also beset by personal tragedy. 91 00:03:44,057 --> 00:03:46,703 {\an8}- You know, you always hear how tough comedians, 92 00:03:46,727 --> 00:03:48,579 {\an8}their childhood is and their life is, 93 00:03:48,603 --> 00:03:52,917 {\an8}but I think Roseanne just personified that. 94 00:03:52,941 --> 00:03:54,836 - She was crossing the street to go to school, 95 00:03:54,860 --> 00:03:59,865 I believe she was maybe 15 or 16, and was hit by a car 96 00:04:00,407 --> 00:04:03,302 that couldn't see her because of the bright sunlight. 97 00:04:03,326 --> 00:04:05,680 - Well, I had got hit by a car. 98 00:04:05,704 --> 00:04:09,392 The hood ornament went in my head, in my brains, 99 00:04:09,416 --> 00:04:10,416 and scrambled them. 100 00:04:11,585 --> 00:04:14,337 I had a head concussion and a brain concussion. 101 00:04:15,422 --> 00:04:17,567 Then I started going really out there. 102 00:04:17,591 --> 00:04:21,362 {\an8}- She was talking about feeling like she was losing her mind 103 00:04:21,386 --> 00:04:25,241 and feeling like it did change the way that she thought. 104 00:04:25,265 --> 00:04:27,076 - I couldn't remember things, you know? 105 00:04:27,100 --> 00:04:30,455 I had forgotten all my math and it was just terrible. 106 00:04:30,479 --> 00:04:33,166 And also, I became way more impulsive. 107 00:04:33,190 --> 00:04:34,459 - After the injury, 108 00:04:34,483 --> 00:04:38,528 she was in a mental health facility for a year. 109 00:04:39,863 --> 00:04:41,466 {\an8}My name is Jake Pentland. 110 00:04:41,490 --> 00:04:44,343 {\an8}I am the oldest son of Roseanne Barr. 111 00:04:44,367 --> 00:04:46,262 Everyone talks about it, the people that were there, 112 00:04:46,286 --> 00:04:48,431 that when she came out of that hospital 113 00:04:48,455 --> 00:04:49,224 at the end of the year, 114 00:04:49,248 --> 00:04:51,100 that she was a completely different person. 115 00:04:51,124 --> 00:04:52,268 - [Narrator] Shortly after her release 116 00:04:52,292 --> 00:04:54,187 {\an8}from the mental hospital, 117 00:04:54,211 --> 00:04:56,588 {\an8}Roseanne set out from Utah to Colorado. 118 00:04:58,465 --> 00:05:00,151 - She got off the Greyhound bus. 119 00:05:00,175 --> 00:05:02,487 It was right at the motel where I work. 120 00:05:02,511 --> 00:05:04,822 And the first thing Roseanne said to me is, 121 00:05:04,846 --> 00:05:06,240 "Are you Chinese?" 122 00:05:06,264 --> 00:05:10,119 And it was just charming in one way, off putting in another. 123 00:05:10,143 --> 00:05:14,916 I've got a weird sense of humor, so it appealed to me. 124 00:05:14,940 --> 00:05:17,293 - [Narrator] Roseanne and Bill hit it off. 125 00:05:17,317 --> 00:05:19,504 - I thought she was cute, but more than that, 126 00:05:19,528 --> 00:05:21,672 I was just attracted to her sense of humor 127 00:05:21,696 --> 00:05:24,759 and to her joie de vivre. 128 00:05:24,783 --> 00:05:26,177 - [Narrator] The courtship quickly evolved 129 00:05:26,201 --> 00:05:29,412 into a whirlwind romance, marriage and kids. 130 00:05:31,289 --> 00:05:34,477 While Bill worked at the local post office, 131 00:05:34,501 --> 00:05:37,814 Roseanne got a job slinging cocktails at a Bennigan's. 132 00:05:37,838 --> 00:05:40,483 - And she just made snappy answers to the men, 133 00:05:40,507 --> 00:05:41,526 hateful things. 134 00:05:41,550 --> 00:05:42,693 I mean, it was like she could get away 135 00:05:42,717 --> 00:05:44,612 with getting everything off her chest 136 00:05:44,636 --> 00:05:48,491 that she had felt about men and they loved her for it, 137 00:05:48,515 --> 00:05:49,951 and that got her into thinking 138 00:05:49,975 --> 00:05:52,787 that she wanted to try stand-up comedy. 139 00:05:52,811 --> 00:05:54,914 - When I moved to Denver and I was already married 140 00:05:54,938 --> 00:05:58,167 and had three kids, then they finally opened a club there 141 00:05:58,191 --> 00:06:00,086 and said anyone could have five minutes, 142 00:06:00,110 --> 00:06:02,338 so I got started that way. 143 00:06:02,362 --> 00:06:04,841 {\an8}- I first met Roseanne Barr when I was headlining 144 00:06:04,865 --> 00:06:07,343 {\an8}at the Comedy Works in Denver, Colorado. 145 00:06:07,367 --> 00:06:10,471 And after my show, this woman came up to me and she said, 146 00:06:10,495 --> 00:06:11,722 "You're who I wanna be." 147 00:06:11,746 --> 00:06:16,143 I laughed and I thought, well, the field is wide open. 148 00:06:16,167 --> 00:06:18,312 - I'm looking forward to seeing your act, Roseanne. 149 00:06:18,336 --> 00:06:19,480 - Well, you should. 150 00:06:19,504 --> 00:06:20,857 (both laugh) 151 00:06:20,881 --> 00:06:22,608 {\an8}Thank you, hi. 152 00:06:22,632 --> 00:06:24,694 {\an8}- [Audience] Hi! 153 00:06:24,718 --> 00:06:25,903 - [Narrator] At first, Roseanne's act 154 00:06:25,927 --> 00:06:27,512 rubbed club owners the wrong way. 155 00:06:28,555 --> 00:06:30,825 - I met Roseanne in the early eighties 156 00:06:30,849 --> 00:06:32,368 at a comedy club in Denver, 157 00:06:32,392 --> 00:06:36,581 {\an8}and her last joke was, let me see if I can get this right. 158 00:06:36,605 --> 00:06:39,292 {\an8}- Like, I get up this morning and I put my maxi pad on, 159 00:06:39,316 --> 00:06:42,420 {\an8}adhesive side up. 160 00:06:42,444 --> 00:06:43,879 {\an8}- And I was on the floor. 161 00:06:43,903 --> 00:06:46,924 {\an8}- Oh yeah, sure, like you've never done it. 162 00:06:46,948 --> 00:06:49,260 - She was coming from a feminist point of view. 163 00:06:49,284 --> 00:06:51,137 People interpreted it as anti-male, 164 00:06:51,161 --> 00:06:53,389 so both clubs in Denver said, 165 00:06:53,413 --> 00:06:55,474 "You're offending the audience." 166 00:06:55,498 --> 00:06:57,310 - [Narrator] Together, Roseanne and Bill 167 00:06:57,334 --> 00:06:59,103 tamed her raw talent. 168 00:06:59,127 --> 00:07:01,606 - So I went down to our basement, 169 00:07:01,630 --> 00:07:03,566 and we had one of those aluminum Christmas trees, 170 00:07:03,590 --> 00:07:06,402 and then I taped a toy microphone, 171 00:07:06,426 --> 00:07:09,322 maybe one of the kids or something, on a 172 00:07:09,346 --> 00:07:11,657 and we would talk about mic technique. 173 00:07:11,681 --> 00:07:14,994 When would be the time to put your elbow on the top 174 00:07:15,018 --> 00:07:17,538 and take the mic to discuss this? 175 00:07:17,562 --> 00:07:19,874 - [Narrator] With practice, Roseanne found success 176 00:07:19,898 --> 00:07:21,626 in the local comedy circuit. 177 00:07:21,650 --> 00:07:23,419 - Late seventies, early eighties, 178 00:07:23,443 --> 00:07:26,547 it was very unpopular to be anything except a housewife, 179 00:07:26,571 --> 00:07:28,007 or a girl who couldn't get dates, 180 00:07:28,031 --> 00:07:30,885 so if you wanted to incorporate that type of humor 181 00:07:30,909 --> 00:07:32,136 into your comedy, 182 00:07:32,160 --> 00:07:35,765 you had to find a way to do it in a roundabout kind of way. 183 00:07:35,789 --> 00:07:39,101 - So anyway, I live out there in suburbia, you know, 184 00:07:39,125 --> 00:07:43,147 so I practice total sensory deprivation. 185 00:07:43,171 --> 00:07:44,857 - [Narrator] Roseanne's act revolved around a character 186 00:07:44,881 --> 00:07:47,276 called the Domestic Goddess, 187 00:07:47,300 --> 00:07:50,821 a jaded, cynical, gum-chewing every wife. 188 00:07:50,845 --> 00:07:53,616 - Roseanne really spoke the middle class, 189 00:07:53,640 --> 00:07:55,034 the blue collar part of the country, 190 00:07:55,058 --> 00:07:57,536 which is most of the country. 191 00:07:57,560 --> 00:08:00,665 {\an8}And she spoke to me and I'm not even white, 192 00:08:00,689 --> 00:08:02,166 {\an8}but I was blue collar. 193 00:08:02,190 --> 00:08:04,835 - It was Rodney Dangerfield- 194 00:08:04,859 --> 00:08:06,462 - My wife, she drives me nuts. 195 00:08:06,486 --> 00:08:11,425 - As a housewife with like a great intellect. 196 00:08:11,449 --> 00:08:13,219 - She was like Archie Bunker. 197 00:08:13,243 --> 00:08:14,679 - The man is the breadwinner 198 00:08:14,703 --> 00:08:16,681 and you women have your bread and want (indistinct). 199 00:08:16,705 --> 00:08:18,849 - Only for housewives. 200 00:08:18,873 --> 00:08:22,645 - I got a real nice two-car garage with a house attached. 201 00:08:22,669 --> 00:08:24,355 No, it's just, no. 202 00:08:24,379 --> 00:08:26,857 - She said the things that every housewife in America 203 00:08:26,881 --> 00:08:30,361 was thinking at the time, but nobody wanted to say them. 204 00:08:30,385 --> 00:08:32,321 - I hate that word, housewife, huh, 205 00:08:32,345 --> 00:08:35,366 and I hate the word homemaker too. 206 00:08:35,390 --> 00:08:38,184 I wanna be called Domestic Goddess. 207 00:08:39,602 --> 00:08:41,163 - It might have been a little raw 208 00:08:41,187 --> 00:08:43,666 because it was still being developed, 209 00:08:43,690 --> 00:08:45,251 but that Domestic Goddess thing, 210 00:08:45,275 --> 00:08:48,379 when she started that, that just took off. 211 00:08:48,403 --> 00:08:49,612 It went to the moon. 212 00:08:50,613 --> 00:08:52,508 - [Narrator] The act resonated, 213 00:08:52,532 --> 00:08:55,678 and Roseanne rocketed from sniping cocktail waitress 214 00:08:55,702 --> 00:08:57,972 to a local comedy sensation. 215 00:08:57,996 --> 00:09:00,641 - She won a local competition in Colorado. 216 00:09:00,665 --> 00:09:02,184 I think it was called The Laugh Off. 217 00:09:02,208 --> 00:09:04,687 {\an8}I know because I'm from Colorado. It was a big deal. 218 00:09:04,711 --> 00:09:07,440 But she got an opportunity to go to The Comedy Store, 219 00:09:07,464 --> 00:09:10,735 which is a legendary spot in California. 220 00:09:10,759 --> 00:09:13,779 - So we cashed in all our jars and everything 221 00:09:13,803 --> 00:09:18,183 over at the Coinstar and she flew to LA. 222 00:09:22,270 --> 00:09:25,875 {\an8}- I met Roseanne when she first came to Los Angeles 223 00:09:25,899 --> 00:09:30,904 {\an8}from Denver to The Comedy Store, and it was quite the debut. 224 00:09:31,571 --> 00:09:34,049 She came out and she played the main room 225 00:09:34,073 --> 00:09:35,784 {\an8}and auditioned for Mitzi Shore. 226 00:09:36,910 --> 00:09:39,680 {\an8}- After she comes off stage, this guy comes out, 227 00:09:39,704 --> 00:09:40,931 gives her a card. 228 00:09:40,955 --> 00:09:44,268 It's the talent coordinator for "The Tonight Show." 229 00:09:44,292 --> 00:09:46,687 And he says, "I'm gonna put you on 'The Tonight Show'." 230 00:09:46,711 --> 00:09:47,688 Just like that. 231 00:09:47,712 --> 00:09:49,690 - So what, are you looking forward to going on Carson 232 00:09:49,714 --> 00:09:51,776 or Letterman after this, or any other shows? 233 00:09:51,800 --> 00:09:53,694 - Well, some guy saw me and gave me his card 234 00:09:53,718 --> 00:09:55,071 and told me to do it, so. 235 00:09:55,095 --> 00:09:57,406 - I knew it was gonna change the night 236 00:09:57,430 --> 00:09:59,784 she did Carson the first time. 237 00:09:59,808 --> 00:10:02,828 {\an8}It was 1985, me and my dad and my sisters 238 00:10:02,852 --> 00:10:04,080 were still back in Denver, 239 00:10:04,104 --> 00:10:05,998 so we didn't know how it was going. 240 00:10:06,022 --> 00:10:07,041 - And my kids love me 241 00:10:07,065 --> 00:10:09,859 'cause I'm kinda like the mother they never had. 242 00:10:11,110 --> 00:10:13,672 - And the phone rang, my dad answered, 243 00:10:13,696 --> 00:10:16,300 and he got off the phone and he said, 244 00:10:16,324 --> 00:10:18,427 "You guys are moving to LA, your mom killed." 245 00:10:18,451 --> 00:10:20,930 - You know, a lot of stuff bugs me about being married. 246 00:10:20,954 --> 00:10:23,599 A lot of stuff bugs me about husbands, you know? 247 00:10:23,623 --> 00:10:28,687 Like when they all the time wanna talk to you, I hate that. 248 00:10:28,711 --> 00:10:32,441 - People looked at "The Tonight Show" as the end-all be-all. 249 00:10:32,465 --> 00:10:34,068 Once you got a "Tonight Show" appearance, 250 00:10:34,092 --> 00:10:35,694 you were well on your way to something. 251 00:10:35,718 --> 00:10:38,489 {\an8}- But I do have sexual problems, like with my husband. 252 00:10:38,513 --> 00:10:40,533 {\an8}You won't even believe this, you'll die. 253 00:10:40,557 --> 00:10:41,700 You know what he says to me? 254 00:10:41,724 --> 00:10:43,661 He comes in there, "Roseanne, why don't you ever try to be 255 00:10:43,685 --> 00:10:46,455 more aggressive in bed?" 256 00:10:46,479 --> 00:10:47,748 So I thought about it and everything, 257 00:10:47,772 --> 00:10:49,041 and then the other night, we're laying there 258 00:10:49,065 --> 00:10:50,984 and he reached for me, so I said, "No!" 259 00:10:54,779 --> 00:10:56,507 - [Narrator] Roseanne had channeled her pugnacious, 260 00:10:56,531 --> 00:10:59,009 unapologetic personality into an act 261 00:10:59,033 --> 00:11:01,345 that was ready for prime time. 262 00:11:01,369 --> 00:11:03,389 But deep inside the Domestic Goddess, 263 00:11:03,413 --> 00:11:06,642 a powder keg seemed ready to spark off. 264 00:11:06,666 --> 00:11:08,626 It was only a matter of time. 265 00:11:18,928 --> 00:11:23,701 - Ladies and gentlemen, America's favorite domestic goddess 266 00:11:23,725 --> 00:11:24,725 Roseanne Barr! 267 00:11:26,102 --> 00:11:29,707 {\an8}(audience applauds) 268 00:11:29,731 --> 00:11:32,376 {\an8}- Back in those days, there was an absolute progression 269 00:11:32,400 --> 00:11:33,878 {\an8}you had to make. 270 00:11:33,902 --> 00:11:38,465 The Comedy Store, "The Tonight Show," your own sitcom. 271 00:11:38,489 --> 00:11:42,994 And Roseanne knocked those doors down, like, instantly. 272 00:11:46,664 --> 00:11:48,267 - It's the late eighties, you've seen "The Cosby Show," 273 00:11:48,291 --> 00:11:50,394 you've seen "Family Ties," it's aspirational. 274 00:11:50,418 --> 00:11:52,062 {\an8}These families, they have money. 275 00:11:52,086 --> 00:11:53,731 {\an8}Along comes Roseanne 276 00:11:53,755 --> 00:11:56,901 {\an8}and you're seeing a lot of the living rooms 277 00:11:56,925 --> 00:12:00,571 {\an8}that many Americans are used to sitting in and watching TV. 278 00:12:00,595 --> 00:12:05,600 {\an8}- She became this bigger than life voice out of obscurity, 279 00:12:05,934 --> 00:12:08,394 and then this amazing sitcom. 280 00:12:10,230 --> 00:12:12,458 {\an8}I mean, she started this whole idea of, 281 00:12:12,482 --> 00:12:13,876 we don't have to create a show, 282 00:12:13,900 --> 00:12:15,294 the comics are creating them themselves 283 00:12:15,318 --> 00:12:16,712 by just being who they are. 284 00:12:16,736 --> 00:12:17,963 - [Narrator] Produced for ABC, 285 00:12:17,987 --> 00:12:20,591 "Roseanne" upturned the "Leave It to Beaver" image 286 00:12:20,615 --> 00:12:22,426 of middle class America. 287 00:12:22,450 --> 00:12:25,179 - A beautiful white mom dressed to the nines 288 00:12:25,203 --> 00:12:27,765 {\an8}with an apron on, her makeup done in the house, 289 00:12:27,789 --> 00:12:29,767 {\an8}get the solid (beep) out of here. 290 00:12:29,791 --> 00:12:33,938 Roseanne represented what was real in this world. 291 00:12:33,962 --> 00:12:35,814 - Dad, did you know Mom knows everything? 292 00:12:35,838 --> 00:12:37,775 - That's just one of the little things we have to live with 293 00:12:37,799 --> 00:12:38,735 in this family. 294 00:12:38,759 --> 00:12:41,111 - I think "Roseanne" blew the doors open 295 00:12:41,135 --> 00:12:44,156 {\an8}'cause you just hadn't seen anything like that. 296 00:12:44,180 --> 00:12:46,825 - Cindy Clark's mother let her babysit when she was nine. 297 00:12:46,849 --> 00:12:49,536 - Well, Cindy Clark's mom is a drunken slut. 298 00:12:49,560 --> 00:12:51,205 - I mean, there was a TV Guide cover 299 00:12:51,229 --> 00:12:53,415 where she was dressed up as Lucille Ball, 300 00:12:53,439 --> 00:12:56,877 like she was the new Lucy, which makes sense. 301 00:12:56,901 --> 00:13:00,756 I mean, Lucille Ball knocked down huge barriers for women. 302 00:13:00,780 --> 00:13:03,133 That show was huge and Roseanne did the same. 303 00:13:03,157 --> 00:13:04,802 It was massive. 304 00:13:04,826 --> 00:13:06,637 {\an8}- It was a very brilliant show, 305 00:13:06,661 --> 00:13:09,264 simply because it had the balls 306 00:13:09,288 --> 00:13:12,351 to really shine a light on society in the most honest 307 00:13:12,375 --> 00:13:15,062 and raw and real way and make you laugh. 308 00:13:15,086 --> 00:13:16,397 - You could never tell anybody gives a damn 309 00:13:16,421 --> 00:13:17,357 about anything around here. 310 00:13:17,381 --> 00:13:20,150 All we do is yell at each other and make jokes. 311 00:13:20,174 --> 00:13:21,485 - Well, Dan, I'm really upset 312 00:13:21,509 --> 00:13:24,029 that you've forgotten the occasional fist fight. 313 00:13:24,053 --> 00:13:25,864 - That's perfect, Roseanne. 314 00:13:25,888 --> 00:13:27,616 - [Narrator] Millions tuned in to watch "Roseanne" 315 00:13:27,640 --> 00:13:30,018 and see their own lives reflected on screen. 316 00:13:31,019 --> 00:13:32,997 - The show was a hit right out of the box, 317 00:13:33,021 --> 00:13:37,692 and despite the success, there was a, 318 00:13:38,651 --> 00:13:42,923 {\an8}shall I say a disconnect between Roseanne and her writers. 319 00:13:42,947 --> 00:13:43,758 - You know what I mean? 320 00:13:43,782 --> 00:13:47,052 - Sometimes things get too slick in the writing of it 321 00:13:47,076 --> 00:13:50,597 and Roseanne can smell it out like that. 322 00:13:50,621 --> 00:13:54,935 {\an8}- I remember she told me the guy who created the show 323 00:13:54,959 --> 00:13:58,397 {\an8}said to her one day, "Roseanne wouldn't say that." 324 00:13:58,421 --> 00:14:01,984 She goes, "Are you outta your mind? I am Roseanne!" 325 00:14:02,008 --> 00:14:03,193 - [Narrator] Tensions between Roseanne 326 00:14:03,217 --> 00:14:04,820 and the network mounted. 327 00:14:04,844 --> 00:14:06,947 Rumors circulated that ABC was plotting 328 00:14:06,971 --> 00:14:09,182 to remove Roseanne from her own show. 329 00:14:10,350 --> 00:14:12,536 - Me and Rosie are sitting there talking on the sound stage. 330 00:14:12,560 --> 00:14:14,062 "How far do we wanna push it?" 331 00:14:15,563 --> 00:14:17,332 {\an8}And the assistant stage manager walks up to me 332 00:14:17,356 --> 00:14:20,669 {\an8}and he's got a pad, and he writes on it, 333 00:14:20,693 --> 00:14:22,945 "The boom mic over your head is live." 334 00:14:24,030 --> 00:14:26,842 And we just thought, holy shit. 335 00:14:26,866 --> 00:14:29,803 I think everybody that would've been listening, 336 00:14:29,827 --> 00:14:31,513 they were trying to get material enough 337 00:14:31,537 --> 00:14:33,891 to fire her for not cooperating. 338 00:14:33,915 --> 00:14:36,560 I know that their lawyer called us at home and said, 339 00:14:36,584 --> 00:14:38,353 "You're gonna end up in a trailer park again 340 00:14:38,377 --> 00:14:40,773 if you don't play ball, you read the lines as written." 341 00:14:40,797 --> 00:14:42,816 And Roseanne goes, "This isn't my character." 342 00:14:42,840 --> 00:14:44,026 (people chattering faintly) 343 00:14:44,050 --> 00:14:46,570 - Well, what's the deal? 344 00:14:46,594 --> 00:14:48,655 - [Narrator] There was even a second season plot line 345 00:14:48,679 --> 00:14:51,450 conceived as a contingency plan. 346 00:14:51,474 --> 00:14:53,035 - On the second season, 347 00:14:53,059 --> 00:14:55,496 this one called "An Officer and A Gentleman," 348 00:14:55,520 --> 00:14:58,374 and in it, Jackie is coming over to the house, 349 00:14:58,398 --> 00:15:01,376 helping Dan take care of the kids while Roseanne's away 350 00:15:01,400 --> 00:15:02,628 for a couple of weeks. 351 00:15:02,652 --> 00:15:04,797 In this scene, Jackie and Dan, 352 00:15:04,821 --> 00:15:06,507 they're talking in a kitchen about 353 00:15:06,531 --> 00:15:09,134 that they had a mutual attraction towards each other 354 00:15:09,158 --> 00:15:10,344 in high school. 355 00:15:10,368 --> 00:15:11,678 - You know, I used to have a crush on you 356 00:15:11,702 --> 00:15:12,888 in a big way back then. 357 00:15:12,912 --> 00:15:14,306 - Ha, you did? - Yeah. 358 00:15:14,330 --> 00:15:17,351 - And the producer that wrote that episode called me at home 359 00:15:17,375 --> 00:15:20,187 and he said, "We're running this up the flag pole 360 00:15:20,211 --> 00:15:21,939 to see if we can get rid of her 361 00:15:21,963 --> 00:15:24,483 and whether the rest of the cast can carry the show." 362 00:15:24,507 --> 00:15:25,692 - See you later, honey. 363 00:15:25,716 --> 00:15:27,486 - Okay, dear! 364 00:15:27,510 --> 00:15:30,364 - How do we move Roseanne to the back of the bus? 365 00:15:30,388 --> 00:15:32,407 Well, you know that quote, "You're not paranoid 366 00:15:32,431 --> 00:15:34,076 if they really are out to get ya." 367 00:15:34,100 --> 00:15:36,078 {\an8}She felt that very strongly at times. 368 00:15:36,102 --> 00:15:38,247 - We weren't working with these people, 369 00:15:38,271 --> 00:15:40,273 we were working against them. 370 00:15:41,107 --> 00:15:43,001 - [Narrator] Roseanne's behind the scenes battles 371 00:15:43,025 --> 00:15:45,170 were becoming headline news. 372 00:15:45,194 --> 00:15:47,089 - You know, where there's smoke, there's fire. 373 00:15:47,113 --> 00:15:49,133 I did an episode of "Roseanne." 374 00:15:49,157 --> 00:15:52,052 I had people saying, "Oh, it's gonna be like this." 375 00:15:52,076 --> 00:15:54,471 There, there. Calm down, it's okay. 376 00:15:54,495 --> 00:15:57,141 There was chit-chat all the time. 377 00:15:57,165 --> 00:16:00,269 - Being a powerful woman in Hollywood is like such a threat. 378 00:16:00,293 --> 00:16:05,298 And particularly with Roseanne, she was a force, right? 379 00:16:06,215 --> 00:16:08,277 And as people would say, "She's brash, 380 00:16:08,301 --> 00:16:10,821 she's angry, she's caustic." 381 00:16:10,845 --> 00:16:12,114 - She knew how to play it back, 382 00:16:12,138 --> 00:16:14,366 and we just had to ride it out 383 00:16:14,390 --> 00:16:16,201 until the show aired in October. 384 00:16:16,225 --> 00:16:18,245 Then we knew once it hit, 385 00:16:18,269 --> 00:16:20,831 Roseanne's face was what was up there 386 00:16:20,855 --> 00:16:22,398 and we would get what we wanted. 387 00:16:23,649 --> 00:16:26,253 - [Narrator] Roseanne Barr was now a household name, 388 00:16:26,277 --> 00:16:28,964 but her public image seemed increasingly volatile. 389 00:16:28,988 --> 00:16:31,258 This was never more apparent than in 1990 390 00:16:31,282 --> 00:16:33,844 when Roseanne divorced Bill 391 00:16:33,868 --> 00:16:36,430 after falling for a fellow comedian. 392 00:16:36,454 --> 00:16:38,765 - The relationship between my mother and Tom Arnold 393 00:16:38,789 --> 00:16:42,060 {\an8}was fire and gasoline. 394 00:16:42,084 --> 00:16:42,854 - [Roseanne] Now get out there 395 00:16:42,878 --> 00:16:44,295 and warm them up for me, babe. 396 00:16:45,922 --> 00:16:48,108 (audience applauds) 397 00:16:48,132 --> 00:16:50,360 - A year ago, you had people come to you and say, 398 00:16:50,384 --> 00:16:51,778 "Watch out for this guy." 399 00:16:51,802 --> 00:16:56,807 - Well, Tom did get arrested for urinating on a McDonalds. 400 00:16:57,099 --> 00:16:59,828 {\an8}- They were partying pals, and that partying, 401 00:16:59,852 --> 00:17:03,081 {\an8}it became very volatile, they had a lot of arguments. 402 00:17:03,105 --> 00:17:05,542 I mean, they would have fights on the set of her show, 403 00:17:05,566 --> 00:17:08,462 but include everyone into these fights 404 00:17:08,486 --> 00:17:10,380 and ask them to choose sides. 405 00:17:10,404 --> 00:17:12,341 - Again, my mother is not famous 406 00:17:12,365 --> 00:17:17,304 because she's pragmatic or level headed, it's just chaos. 407 00:17:17,328 --> 00:17:20,057 - What is going on with Roseanne and Tom Arnold? 408 00:17:20,081 --> 00:17:22,250 - The Property of Tom Arnold. 409 00:17:23,251 --> 00:17:26,396 - [Narrator] But Roseanne didn't need Arnold to get press. 410 00:17:26,420 --> 00:17:28,899 She could do that all by herself. 411 00:17:28,923 --> 00:17:31,652 - Oh, man, "The Star-Spangled Banner" incident. 412 00:17:31,676 --> 00:17:32,570 - I was there. 413 00:17:32,594 --> 00:17:35,364 So, it was me and my mother and Tom 414 00:17:35,388 --> 00:17:37,324 {\an8}and Tom Werner of Carsey-Werner, 415 00:17:37,348 --> 00:17:40,035 {\an8}which created "The Cosby Show" and the "Roseanne" show. 416 00:17:40,059 --> 00:17:42,621 Very wealthy, so he owned the San Diego Padres. 417 00:17:42,645 --> 00:17:43,872 So he said to her, 418 00:17:43,896 --> 00:17:45,749 "Why don't you come down and sing the national anthem? 419 00:17:45,773 --> 00:17:48,377 It'll be great, you're a comedian, it'll be fun." 420 00:17:48,401 --> 00:17:52,256 {\an8}♪ O say, can you see ♪ 421 00:17:52,280 --> 00:17:54,967 - She gets out there and starts singing. 422 00:17:54,991 --> 00:17:58,011 ♪ So proudly we hail'd ♪ 423 00:17:58,035 --> 00:18:00,264 - And she sucks and blows it. 424 00:18:00,288 --> 00:18:03,225 - Three lines in, the crowd starts booing her, 425 00:18:03,249 --> 00:18:04,935 and that's when she amped it up. 426 00:18:04,959 --> 00:18:07,271 - When she grabbed her crotch at the end... 427 00:18:07,295 --> 00:18:08,772 ♪ Brave ♪ 428 00:18:08,796 --> 00:18:11,090 (crowd boos) 429 00:18:12,174 --> 00:18:13,174 - (beep) brilliant. 430 00:18:13,926 --> 00:18:15,654 - [Narrator] After the boos settled, 431 00:18:15,678 --> 00:18:18,240 Roseanne was subjected to a nationwide scandal. 432 00:18:18,264 --> 00:18:20,576 {\an8}- We can call it already, "The Rose-Anthem." 433 00:18:20,600 --> 00:18:23,203 {\an8}- The raunchy rendition of the American national anthem 434 00:18:23,227 --> 00:18:26,456 is causing a sensation all across the United States. 435 00:18:26,480 --> 00:18:29,001 - It backfired really bad. 436 00:18:29,025 --> 00:18:30,419 - My reaction is it was disgraceful 437 00:18:30,443 --> 00:18:33,672 - You know it's bad when the president of the United States 438 00:18:33,696 --> 00:18:36,133 comes out and says, "Your act sucks." 439 00:18:36,157 --> 00:18:38,176 - You would've thought she assassinated the president, 440 00:18:38,200 --> 00:18:39,261 the way people were reacting. 441 00:18:39,285 --> 00:18:40,221 - [Reporter] Late this afternoon, 442 00:18:40,245 --> 00:18:44,141 Barr called a news conference, she declined to apologize. 443 00:18:44,165 --> 00:18:46,560 - I'll sing that song again if I feel like it 444 00:18:46,584 --> 00:18:49,104 because it's my national anthem. 445 00:18:49,128 --> 00:18:50,856 - She said she was getting death threats. 446 00:18:50,880 --> 00:18:52,232 - She was so depressed after that 447 00:18:52,256 --> 00:18:54,860 and she wasn't the same for a long time. 448 00:18:54,884 --> 00:18:56,111 - [Narrator] Despite the public outcry, 449 00:18:56,135 --> 00:18:59,323 Roseanne's ratings were barely affected. 450 00:18:59,347 --> 00:19:03,201 - Lately, I've had a cable special, an album, a tour 451 00:19:03,225 --> 00:19:05,746 and appearances on dozens of talk shows, you know, 452 00:19:05,770 --> 00:19:08,332 {\an8}counting public apologies and everything. 453 00:19:08,356 --> 00:19:10,876 {\an8}- [Narrator] The sitcom still dominated prime time. 454 00:19:10,900 --> 00:19:12,586 {\an8}It seemed like no amount of negative press 455 00:19:12,610 --> 00:19:15,363 {\an8}could stop Roseanne, not yet. 456 00:19:22,411 --> 00:19:25,414 (suspenseful music) 457 00:19:26,916 --> 00:19:30,062 Wildly hailed as one of the greatest sitcoms of its era, 458 00:19:30,086 --> 00:19:34,149 America said goodbye to "Roseanne" in 1997. 459 00:19:34,173 --> 00:19:36,276 - It's kind of sad, but kind of happy 460 00:19:36,300 --> 00:19:38,779 to really think back about what we've accomplished 461 00:19:38,803 --> 00:19:39,988 and that I'm happier. 462 00:19:40,012 --> 00:19:42,324 - But don't expect this to be the last of Roseanne. 463 00:19:42,348 --> 00:19:44,159 - [Narrator] It's star floated between gigs. 464 00:19:44,183 --> 00:19:46,995 A talk show, a reality series. 465 00:19:47,019 --> 00:19:48,455 - [Announcer] "Roseanne's Nuts." 466 00:19:48,479 --> 00:19:50,165 - [Narrator] Stand-up specials. 467 00:19:50,189 --> 00:19:53,168 - What a privilege it is for you to have me here tonight, 468 00:19:53,192 --> 00:19:54,294 ladies and gentlemen. 469 00:19:54,318 --> 00:19:56,254 - [Narrator] Even a sing-along children's album. 470 00:19:56,278 --> 00:20:00,384 ♪ Going to the doctor makes me sick ♪ 471 00:20:00,408 --> 00:20:02,177 - [Narrator] It wasn't until 2012 472 00:20:02,201 --> 00:20:05,764 that Roseanne would make her biggest move in decades. 473 00:20:05,788 --> 00:20:09,208 - Here I go, here I go, running for president. 474 00:20:10,709 --> 00:20:13,313 - There came a year 475 00:20:13,337 --> 00:20:16,191 {\an8}where she was going to run for president, 476 00:20:16,215 --> 00:20:18,360 {\an8}which was so like her. 477 00:20:18,384 --> 00:20:20,362 - [Reporter] Roseanne Barr announced her plans 478 00:20:20,386 --> 00:20:23,865 to run for the Green Party nomination on Twitter. 479 00:20:23,889 --> 00:20:28,662 {\an8}- I started working with Roseanne in late 2011 480 00:20:28,686 --> 00:20:30,080 and immediately I jumped on board. 481 00:20:30,104 --> 00:20:32,374 I said, "This is a great idea for the Green Party. 482 00:20:32,398 --> 00:20:34,126 This is wonderful." 483 00:20:34,150 --> 00:20:36,002 - Her show was gone. 484 00:20:36,026 --> 00:20:37,963 - What's your number one worry? 485 00:20:37,987 --> 00:20:41,341 - My number one worry is that it's over. 486 00:20:41,365 --> 00:20:45,303 - So she had no podium to voice her views 487 00:20:45,327 --> 00:20:46,346 and entertain the public. 488 00:20:46,370 --> 00:20:49,266 - Roseanne, what has a has-been of your magnitude 489 00:20:49,290 --> 00:20:51,101 been up to recently? 490 00:20:51,125 --> 00:20:53,645 {\an8}- We've seen it time and time again with Roseanne. 491 00:20:53,669 --> 00:20:55,313 {\an8}She knows how to get people talking, 492 00:20:55,337 --> 00:20:56,982 {\an8}she knows how to keep people talking. 493 00:20:57,006 --> 00:21:01,236 {\an8}- I'm the only serious comedian in this race, Fredricka. 494 00:21:01,260 --> 00:21:02,779 - We're talking about her- - We're talking about it. 495 00:21:02,803 --> 00:21:04,364 - And that's probably all she wanted, right? 496 00:21:04,388 --> 00:21:06,408 {\an8}- I wouldn't say it was a publicity stunt, 497 00:21:06,432 --> 00:21:08,410 {\an8}but I think she was well aware 498 00:21:08,434 --> 00:21:12,164 that she probably wasn't going to be the president. 499 00:21:12,188 --> 00:21:13,582 - [Narrator] Roseanne's political affiliation 500 00:21:13,606 --> 00:21:15,625 seemed to fit her image as a left-leaning, 501 00:21:15,649 --> 00:21:17,627 progressively-minded person. 502 00:21:17,651 --> 00:21:22,656 - We want marijuana (beep) legal! 503 00:21:23,449 --> 00:21:25,427 - People often see that as a joke, 504 00:21:25,451 --> 00:21:28,430 but in reality, it is a social justice issue. 505 00:21:28,454 --> 00:21:29,556 {\an8}- Roseanne was a hero. 506 00:21:29,580 --> 00:21:34,585 She was for everybody, and women, and LGBTQ people. 507 00:21:34,919 --> 00:21:37,272 - [Narrator] But Roseanne's presidential run also saw her 508 00:21:37,296 --> 00:21:40,358 dabbling in some far out conspiratorial beliefs. 509 00:21:40,382 --> 00:21:45,155 {\an8}- In the case of Roseanne, a her mind is like a sponge, 510 00:21:45,179 --> 00:21:48,575 always questioning, always wanting to learn. 511 00:21:48,599 --> 00:21:50,785 You know, she's a conspiracy person, 512 00:21:50,809 --> 00:21:52,704 {\an8}whether people agree with it or not. 513 00:21:52,728 --> 00:21:54,664 {\an8}- [Roseanne] I think climate change, 514 00:21:54,688 --> 00:21:57,876 {\an8}it's a code word like everything political is a code word. 515 00:21:57,900 --> 00:22:00,629 {\an8}I'm more subscribed to the theory of weather manipulation 516 00:22:00,653 --> 00:22:03,048 {\an8}for depopulation purposes. 517 00:22:03,072 --> 00:22:04,591 - [Narrator] Roseanne's foray into politics 518 00:22:04,615 --> 00:22:09,429 opened another avenue, a new social media megaphone. 519 00:22:09,453 --> 00:22:11,831 {\an8}- [Roseanne] I'm getting good at the Tweeting. 520 00:22:12,873 --> 00:22:15,977 {\an8}- Roseanne 100% uses Twitter to (beep) with people. 521 00:22:16,001 --> 00:22:19,105 - Twitter to my mother is, like, it's addictive. 522 00:22:19,129 --> 00:22:22,359 Like, this is a place where you can espouse 523 00:22:22,383 --> 00:22:24,861 and everybody can read your opinion on anything. 524 00:22:24,885 --> 00:22:27,364 - [Narrator] Roseanne tweeted compulsively 525 00:22:27,388 --> 00:22:29,199 and controversially. 526 00:22:29,223 --> 00:22:30,200 - She gets on Twitter 527 00:22:30,224 --> 00:22:32,327 {\an8}and does all this crazy political bullshit. 528 00:22:32,351 --> 00:22:33,578 {\an8}I don't read any of it. 529 00:22:33,602 --> 00:22:35,372 {\an8}I don't know what she's talking about. 530 00:22:35,396 --> 00:22:39,167 {\an8}- Then she's tweeting out, you know, QAnon conspiracies. 531 00:22:39,191 --> 00:22:41,878 {\an8}If you wanna say she was far left or far right, 532 00:22:41,902 --> 00:22:44,464 {\an8}whatever it was, it was extremes. 533 00:22:44,488 --> 00:22:48,009 {\an8}- When people talk about her going off the rails politically 534 00:22:48,033 --> 00:22:53,038 {\an8}in recent years, I don't know what it is about social media, 535 00:22:53,330 --> 00:22:56,685 but people are different online than offline. 536 00:22:56,709 --> 00:22:59,020 - [Narrator] For the famously unfiltered comedian, 537 00:22:59,044 --> 00:23:00,689 Twitter offered a direct connection 538 00:23:00,713 --> 00:23:02,941 with an audience of millions. 539 00:23:02,965 --> 00:23:05,026 - [Man] She's a controversial presence on Twitter, 540 00:23:05,050 --> 00:23:06,444 she always has been. 541 00:23:06,468 --> 00:23:09,573 - You're seeing what seems like more people embracing 542 00:23:09,597 --> 00:23:11,324 or sharing conspiracy theories, 543 00:23:11,348 --> 00:23:13,952 {\an8}and I think that begins with the natural way people interact 544 00:23:13,976 --> 00:23:15,537 {\an8}with the media, or with the truth. 545 00:23:15,561 --> 00:23:18,957 - She's watching all these videos on YouTube, 546 00:23:18,981 --> 00:23:21,459 crazy conspiracy things, and buying into it. 547 00:23:21,483 --> 00:23:23,962 Then she'd send them to me and say, "Watch this." 548 00:23:23,986 --> 00:23:26,089 - I don't like them putting chemicals in the water 549 00:23:26,113 --> 00:23:28,258 that turn the frigging frogs gay! 550 00:23:28,282 --> 00:23:29,634 - [Bill] I said, "This is crazy shit, 551 00:23:29,658 --> 00:23:31,511 why are you watching this?" 552 00:23:31,535 --> 00:23:33,388 - (grunts) I'm sick of this crap! 553 00:23:33,412 --> 00:23:34,431 - When you're in the social media 554 00:23:34,455 --> 00:23:38,476 and you tie into a certain cult mentality or belief, 555 00:23:38,500 --> 00:23:41,438 or whatever, the algorithms are frightening. 556 00:23:41,462 --> 00:23:43,940 I think a lot of people are starting to figure that out now 557 00:23:43,964 --> 00:23:47,343 with just what incredible power that is. 558 00:23:54,975 --> 00:23:56,870 - I mean, she wanted to get away from the noise, 559 00:23:56,894 --> 00:23:59,271 so she buys this beautiful farm in Hawaii. 560 00:24:01,440 --> 00:24:02,876 - [Roseanne] Yeah. 561 00:24:02,900 --> 00:24:04,919 - But she's bored, so she goes on YouTube 562 00:24:04,943 --> 00:24:06,838 and starts following these things, 563 00:24:06,862 --> 00:24:09,507 and somehow or other got brought into it. 564 00:24:09,531 --> 00:24:10,468 She's not the only one. 565 00:24:10,492 --> 00:24:13,887 Other people have been brought into it as well. 566 00:24:13,911 --> 00:24:16,431 - It can easily take you into some corner of the internet 567 00:24:16,455 --> 00:24:18,350 that's full of fake stuff, that's misleading, 568 00:24:18,374 --> 00:24:19,976 that's gonna get you to waste your time 569 00:24:20,000 --> 00:24:21,460 and go down a rabbit hole. 570 00:24:24,546 --> 00:24:29,194 {\an8}And then I saw a guy eating a baby 571 00:24:29,218 --> 00:24:31,821 - [Narrator] Roseanne became an outspoken public proponent 572 00:24:31,845 --> 00:24:35,033 of far right fringe conspiracy theories. 573 00:24:35,057 --> 00:24:37,535 - Roseanne was by far the most famous person 574 00:24:37,559 --> 00:24:41,331 who was advancing these theories by retweeting them. 575 00:24:41,355 --> 00:24:43,124 - [Narrator] She had always liked pushing buttons, 576 00:24:43,148 --> 00:24:45,335 she arguably made a career of it, 577 00:24:45,359 --> 00:24:47,170 but her desire to get a rise out of people 578 00:24:47,194 --> 00:24:49,297 was spiraling out of control 579 00:24:49,321 --> 00:24:52,241 and things were getting much, much worse. 580 00:25:01,333 --> 00:25:03,228 - I'm depressed as hell. 581 00:25:03,252 --> 00:25:04,771 I am whacked, I'm crazy. 582 00:25:04,795 --> 00:25:06,064 You know, I'm crazier than hell. 583 00:25:06,088 --> 00:25:07,816 Everyone knows I'm crazier than hell. 584 00:25:07,840 --> 00:25:09,401 - [Narrator] Roseanne has never been shy 585 00:25:09,425 --> 00:25:10,986 about her personal struggles. 586 00:25:11,010 --> 00:25:13,154 {\an8}- She has mental illness. 587 00:25:13,178 --> 00:25:15,073 {\an8}- My friend Roseanne admitted 588 00:25:15,097 --> 00:25:17,742 that she had been admitted to a mental institution. 589 00:25:17,766 --> 00:25:20,704 She has said she has multiple personalities. 590 00:25:20,728 --> 00:25:22,163 - [Narrator] She has said that these issues date back 591 00:25:22,187 --> 00:25:24,708 to the car accident when she was 16. 592 00:25:24,732 --> 00:25:26,876 - I was in the hospital for a while, you know, 593 00:25:26,900 --> 00:25:30,714 and they didn't understand too much about bipolar disorder, 594 00:25:30,738 --> 00:25:34,467 or multiple personality disorder. 595 00:25:34,491 --> 00:25:37,387 - Depending on what part of the brain is injured, 596 00:25:37,411 --> 00:25:40,598 {\an8}it can impact behavior in very different ways. 597 00:25:40,622 --> 00:25:43,518 {\an8}- My understanding is, Roseanne has been public 598 00:25:43,542 --> 00:25:46,396 {\an8}about having some sort of dissociative identity disorder. 599 00:25:46,420 --> 00:25:48,773 {\an8}- [Interviewer] You have said in the past that you suffer 600 00:25:48,797 --> 00:25:50,817 {\an8}from multiple personality disorder. 601 00:25:50,841 --> 00:25:52,944 {\an8}- Well, I don't suffer from it anymore. 602 00:25:52,968 --> 00:25:53,737 {\an8}- [Interviewer] You don't? 603 00:25:53,761 --> 00:25:54,613 {\an8}- I enjoy it. 604 00:25:54,637 --> 00:25:55,780 {\an8}- And such severe trauma 605 00:25:55,804 --> 00:25:57,866 {\an8}that her personality shattered a bit. 606 00:25:57,890 --> 00:25:59,117 She certainly, you know, 607 00:25:59,141 --> 00:26:02,579 has the unstable relationships and chaotic emotions 608 00:26:02,603 --> 00:26:04,831 that we associate with these kinds of conditions. 609 00:26:04,855 --> 00:26:06,499 {\an8}- She's made jokes about it. 610 00:26:06,523 --> 00:26:08,376 {\an8}She's tried to make light of the situation. 611 00:26:08,400 --> 00:26:09,794 - All right, Roseanne, let's work some more 612 00:26:09,818 --> 00:26:12,005 on your multiple personality disorder. 613 00:26:12,029 --> 00:26:13,631 Who would like to talk first? 614 00:26:13,655 --> 00:26:16,217 - While also acknowledging that she does have a problem. 615 00:26:16,241 --> 00:26:19,596 - My name is Alicia and I love to have sex. 616 00:26:19,620 --> 00:26:20,638 - Oh! 617 00:26:20,662 --> 00:26:21,681 - I'm kind of a whore. 618 00:26:21,705 --> 00:26:22,766 - [Narrator] But by her account, 619 00:26:22,790 --> 00:26:24,726 the disorder made Roseanne more outgoing, 620 00:26:24,750 --> 00:26:27,520 more personable and even funnier. 621 00:26:27,544 --> 00:26:29,647 - Hi, I'm Mandy, I'm six years old. 622 00:26:29,671 --> 00:26:32,692 - Hey, hey, hey, what happened to that last woman? 623 00:26:32,716 --> 00:26:35,820 - I was always curious that so many people were thinking 624 00:26:35,844 --> 00:26:39,199 {\an8}was she created because of this car accident? 625 00:26:39,223 --> 00:26:41,493 {\an8}Did it stir up a certain part of her brain? 626 00:26:41,517 --> 00:26:43,661 But then I started meeting comics that were going, 627 00:26:43,685 --> 00:26:45,789 "It doesn't matter, she's delivering on the goods." 628 00:26:45,813 --> 00:26:48,625 So it didn't figure into the soup. 629 00:26:48,649 --> 00:26:49,834 {\an8}- [Interviewer] You ever institutionalized? 630 00:26:49,858 --> 00:26:52,587 {\an8}- Honey, that's like going to the beach. 631 00:26:52,611 --> 00:26:53,380 {\an8}- [Interviewer] Seriously, you've been- 632 00:26:53,404 --> 00:26:56,257 {\an8}- I've been hospitalized a lot. 633 00:26:56,281 --> 00:26:59,594 {\an8}- Social media, not good for people with mental illnesses. 634 00:26:59,618 --> 00:27:01,262 {\an8}Look, I have mental illness. 635 00:27:01,286 --> 00:27:04,349 I have depression, I have anxiety, I have ADD. 636 00:27:04,373 --> 00:27:08,728 I will go into the vortex of an Instagram or a Twitter 637 00:27:08,752 --> 00:27:12,190 and then I'll look at the clock and go, "What the (beep)." 638 00:27:12,214 --> 00:27:14,192 {\an8}It (beep) with your head. 639 00:27:14,216 --> 00:27:16,236 {\an8}- The amazing thing is that, 640 00:27:16,260 --> 00:27:19,781 as soon as you're not on social media, 641 00:27:19,805 --> 00:27:22,700 or you step away from it, all the chaos disappears. 642 00:27:22,724 --> 00:27:25,286 You can enjoy your life, you can enjoy the weather, the sun, 643 00:27:25,310 --> 00:27:26,371 you can walk your dog. 644 00:27:26,395 --> 00:27:27,831 It doesn't feel like the world 645 00:27:27,855 --> 00:27:30,750 is melting down all around you. 646 00:27:30,774 --> 00:27:31,960 - She was always in trouble with her Twitter. 647 00:27:31,984 --> 00:27:33,378 We took her Twitter, her kids. 648 00:27:33,402 --> 00:27:35,797 We changed her password multiple times. 649 00:27:35,821 --> 00:27:37,632 She'd get it back, she'd finagle it from my sister's 650 00:27:37,656 --> 00:27:39,467 and be like "I need to post a picture of my kid," 651 00:27:39,491 --> 00:27:40,760 and then she'd get on and start shit, 652 00:27:40,784 --> 00:27:42,387 'cause she was addicted to fighting. 653 00:27:42,411 --> 00:27:44,848 {\an8}- Can we pop one of her tweets up? 654 00:27:44,872 --> 00:27:46,558 - [Narrator] Roseanne's social media activity 655 00:27:46,582 --> 00:27:49,585 seemed to reflect something of her volatile personality. 656 00:27:50,502 --> 00:27:52,689 - Twitter, social media, let's be honest, 657 00:27:52,713 --> 00:27:56,317 it's probably the worst thing you can give to somebody 658 00:27:56,341 --> 00:27:59,821 that's erratic and mentally ill. 659 00:27:59,845 --> 00:28:02,407 - [Narrator] Around 2016, Roseanne began publicly rooting 660 00:28:02,431 --> 00:28:04,534 for another prodigious Tweeter. 661 00:28:04,558 --> 00:28:06,369 - [Trump] The Washington Post put a picture 662 00:28:06,393 --> 00:28:08,246 of an empty arena- 663 00:28:08,270 --> 00:28:10,874 {\an8}- When she came out as a Trump supporter, 664 00:28:10,898 --> 00:28:12,750 {\an8}I think it surprised everybody 665 00:28:12,774 --> 00:28:15,003 {\an8}who had worked with her before. 666 00:28:15,027 --> 00:28:16,754 - As your friend, Roseanne, 667 00:28:16,778 --> 00:28:19,841 I must remind you of something very important. 668 00:28:19,865 --> 00:28:21,801 You're a socialist! 669 00:28:21,825 --> 00:28:22,802 - [Narrator] Like Roseanne, 670 00:28:22,826 --> 00:28:25,388 Donald Trump styled himself as an outsider 671 00:28:25,412 --> 00:28:29,058 and the comedian lent him her enthusiastic support. 672 00:28:29,082 --> 00:28:31,185 - I feel like she didn't feel appreciated 673 00:28:31,209 --> 00:28:33,855 {\an8}when she was a leftist, and as a result, 674 00:28:33,879 --> 00:28:35,398 {\an8}she just said, I'm just gonna go over there. 675 00:28:35,422 --> 00:28:38,067 - If you say that you're a supporter of Donald Trump, or- 676 00:28:38,091 --> 00:28:39,819 - Oh yeah, people are mad about that, 677 00:28:39,843 --> 00:28:42,888 but you know, I don't give a (beep). 678 00:28:44,097 --> 00:28:46,200 {\an8}- The fact that she was tweeting so much support 679 00:28:46,224 --> 00:28:48,912 {\an8}of Donald Trump became very controversial for her. 680 00:28:48,936 --> 00:28:52,582 - But you are a very socially liberal person in general. 681 00:28:52,606 --> 00:28:53,334 I mean- 682 00:28:53,358 --> 00:28:55,793 - I'm still the same, you all moved. 683 00:28:55,817 --> 00:28:56,836 - We did? 684 00:28:56,860 --> 00:28:59,446 - You all went so (beep) far out, you lost everybody. 685 00:29:00,906 --> 00:29:02,258 - [Narrator] Roseanne wasn't afraid of talking 686 00:29:02,282 --> 00:29:06,220 about Donald Trump, or of amplifying 687 00:29:06,244 --> 00:29:08,973 - It's just really chilling and wonderful 688 00:29:08,997 --> 00:29:11,935 to think about the things that President Trump has done. 689 00:29:11,959 --> 00:29:13,394 - You know, she tweeted, 690 00:29:13,418 --> 00:29:16,856 "President Trump has freed so many children held in bondage 691 00:29:16,880 --> 00:29:20,026 to pimps all over this world, hundreds each month. 692 00:29:20,050 --> 00:29:21,819 He has broken up trafficking rings 693 00:29:21,843 --> 00:29:24,906 in high places everywhere." 694 00:29:24,930 --> 00:29:26,741 - [Narrator] Roseanne's hyper-partisan political beliefs 695 00:29:26,765 --> 00:29:28,952 began to seem like a liability 696 00:29:28,976 --> 00:29:32,830 when ABC announced they'd be rebooting "Roseanne" in 2018. 697 00:29:32,854 --> 00:29:36,876 - [Trump] Make America great again. 698 00:29:36,900 --> 00:29:38,962 - [Narrator] She was keen to bring President Trump 699 00:29:38,986 --> 00:29:40,797 to the center of the conversation. 700 00:29:40,821 --> 00:29:43,967 - [Reporter] After a two-decade hiatus, "Roseanne" is back, 701 00:29:43,991 --> 00:29:47,512 but now tackling some decidedly modern issues. 702 00:29:47,536 --> 00:29:48,888 - But most of all, Lord, 703 00:29:48,912 --> 00:29:52,642 thank you for making America great again. 704 00:29:52,666 --> 00:29:54,894 - It's like if for the reboot of "Will & Grace", 705 00:29:54,918 --> 00:29:56,521 Will was into women now. 706 00:29:56,545 --> 00:29:58,815 - How could you have voted for him, Roseanne? 707 00:29:58,839 --> 00:30:01,276 - He talked about jobs, Jackie. 708 00:30:01,300 --> 00:30:03,152 {\an8}He said he'd shake things up. 709 00:30:03,176 --> 00:30:06,114 {\an8}- Her being a Trumpster got all the Trump supporters 710 00:30:06,138 --> 00:30:08,700 {\an8}to watch the reboot because what is there on television 711 00:30:08,724 --> 00:30:11,869 with a star who is an open Trump supporter? 712 00:30:11,893 --> 00:30:14,414 They're, like, isn't, so she was it, 713 00:30:14,438 --> 00:30:16,064 and she's a pretty big catch. 714 00:30:18,817 --> 00:30:20,920 - [Narrator] The rebooted "Roseanne" 715 00:30:20,944 --> 00:30:22,714 and critics alike. 716 00:30:22,738 --> 00:30:26,134 - In the reboot, you have a family 717 00:30:26,158 --> 00:30:29,262 where there is homosexuality in the family, 718 00:30:29,286 --> 00:30:32,223 where there's an interracial relationship, 719 00:30:32,247 --> 00:30:34,934 where you have Hillary and Trump represented in there, 720 00:30:34,958 --> 00:30:38,021 yet they can all still sit down and get along. 721 00:30:38,045 --> 00:30:40,690 - You did really hit upon something great 722 00:30:40,714 --> 00:30:42,817 in that you've got this dynamic 723 00:30:42,841 --> 00:30:45,445 {\an8}that real people are really experiencing. 724 00:30:45,469 --> 00:30:47,405 {\an8}- More people actually watched the show's premier 725 00:30:47,429 --> 00:30:50,491 {\an8}Tuesday night than the 1997 finale. 726 00:30:50,515 --> 00:30:52,410 {\an8}- [Reporter] Highest rated comedy in nearly four years. 727 00:30:52,434 --> 00:30:53,828 {\an8}Number one trend on Twitter. 728 00:30:53,852 --> 00:30:54,912 {\an8}- [Woman] At its peak, 729 00:30:54,936 --> 00:30:57,957 {\an8}the premier garnering 15 tweets per second. 730 00:30:57,981 --> 00:30:59,083 - Even look at Roseanne, 731 00:30:59,107 --> 00:31:01,836 I called her yesterday, look at her ratings. 732 00:31:01,860 --> 00:31:04,797 - Trump called her that night to congratulate her, 733 00:31:04,821 --> 00:31:08,885 and the night Trump called her, I called my mom and I said, 734 00:31:08,909 --> 00:31:11,095 "You're (beep), they're coming for you." 735 00:31:11,119 --> 00:31:12,972 - [Roseanne] I've known him for many years 736 00:31:12,996 --> 00:31:16,291 and it was very sweet of him to congratulate us. 737 00:31:17,793 --> 00:31:19,812 - [Narrator] With the explicit approval of the president, 738 00:31:19,836 --> 00:31:23,149 Roseanne ramped up her erratic social media posting. 739 00:31:23,173 --> 00:31:25,943 - She got really into arguing. 740 00:31:25,967 --> 00:31:28,970 My mom was like, "I'm gonna fight with everybody," 741 00:31:30,097 --> 00:31:31,783 and it became a problem. 742 00:31:31,807 --> 00:31:35,078 - I said to her, "Rosie, you gotta stop tweeting this shit. 743 00:31:35,102 --> 00:31:36,913 {\an8}You sound like a crazy person." 744 00:31:36,937 --> 00:31:39,290 {\an8}She goes, "I'm just having fun with it." 745 00:31:39,314 --> 00:31:42,126 - [Narrator] ABC's executives were also worried. 746 00:31:42,150 --> 00:31:43,711 - ABC was concerned about her tweets 747 00:31:43,735 --> 00:31:45,379 because she was one of those Twitter trolls, 748 00:31:45,403 --> 00:31:48,424 and so ABC had asked her to cool it. 749 00:31:48,448 --> 00:31:49,926 - I hear you're getting ready to stick it 750 00:31:49,950 --> 00:31:51,928 to the execs at ABC again. 751 00:31:51,952 --> 00:31:54,806 It's like 1993 all over. 752 00:31:54,830 --> 00:31:56,641 - Roseanne needs a publicist on Twitter. 753 00:31:56,665 --> 00:31:59,977 She needs someone to literally look at her tweets 754 00:32:00,001 --> 00:32:02,939 {\an8}before they press the send button and edit them. 755 00:32:02,963 --> 00:32:06,401 {\an8}- I tell everyone, "Stop using that darn internet." 756 00:32:06,425 --> 00:32:07,985 {\an8}You know, it's no good for anyone, 757 00:32:08,009 --> 00:32:09,904 {\an8}especially at two o'clock in the morning, 758 00:32:09,928 --> 00:32:12,615 especially when you think you're being funny. 759 00:32:12,639 --> 00:32:15,993 - [Narrator] Early one morning in late May of 2018, 760 00:32:16,017 --> 00:32:18,079 Roseanne crossed another line. 761 00:32:18,103 --> 00:32:20,790 - So then she tweets, and I quote, 762 00:32:20,814 --> 00:32:24,127 "Muslim Brotherhood and 'Planet of the Apes' had a baby, 763 00:32:24,151 --> 00:32:28,572 equals VJ," and VJ is for Valerie Jarrett. 764 00:32:30,282 --> 00:32:33,219 - [Narrator] More than just another inflammatory tweet, 765 00:32:33,243 --> 00:32:37,122 this one would change Roseanne's career forever. 766 00:32:44,337 --> 00:32:47,340 (suspenseful music) 767 00:32:48,592 --> 00:32:50,736 - I'm trying to talk about Iran. 768 00:32:50,760 --> 00:32:51,946 I'm trying to talk about, 769 00:32:51,970 --> 00:32:53,948 Valerie Jarrett wrote the Iran deal! 770 00:32:53,972 --> 00:32:56,784 {\an8}- I know, but you've told me this 300 times. 771 00:32:56,808 --> 00:33:00,163 {\an8}I woke up that morning and a friend of mine said, 772 00:33:00,187 --> 00:33:03,332 "Your mom is trending on Twitter." 773 00:33:03,356 --> 00:33:05,084 And I said, "Oh, what did she do now?" 774 00:33:05,108 --> 00:33:06,502 - Boy, did we have a lot of news overnight. 775 00:33:06,526 --> 00:33:08,004 - [Man] And Roseanne is leading that news. 776 00:33:08,028 --> 00:33:10,673 She had that racist tweet about Valerie Jarrett. 777 00:33:10,697 --> 00:33:12,550 {\an8}- What I think we're dealing with 778 00:33:12,574 --> 00:33:16,137 {\an8}is those that are still trying to turn us back 779 00:33:16,161 --> 00:33:19,307 {\an8}into a day that that is considered normal. 780 00:33:19,331 --> 00:33:21,601 {\an8}- You can't call Black people monkeys. 781 00:33:21,625 --> 00:33:22,685 {\an8}That's what she was doing. 782 00:33:22,709 --> 00:33:25,521 - This story took over the headlines around the world. 783 00:33:25,545 --> 00:33:29,150 {\an8}When you have the star of this sitcom come out 784 00:33:29,174 --> 00:33:32,904 and say something so racist and so damaging, 785 00:33:32,928 --> 00:33:34,614 there is no recovery. 786 00:33:34,638 --> 00:33:37,158 - You know, everybody knows that I have struggled 787 00:33:37,182 --> 00:33:38,892 with mental health issues 788 00:33:39,768 --> 00:33:42,079 and I was struggling at that time as well. 789 00:33:42,103 --> 00:33:44,040 {\an8}- That was just always kind of her go-to. 790 00:33:44,064 --> 00:33:46,709 {\an8}If we would have a disagreement or a fight, 791 00:33:46,733 --> 00:33:48,920 she could always point to the fact that I was 792 00:33:48,944 --> 00:33:51,631 picking on somebody that was not all there, 793 00:33:51,655 --> 00:33:54,926 so that was just kind of her trump card. 794 00:33:54,950 --> 00:33:58,012 - [Narrator] Responses to the tweet came fast and furious. 795 00:33:58,036 --> 00:34:00,473 {\an8}- Plain and simple, the Roseanne tweet was racist. 796 00:34:00,497 --> 00:34:03,559 {\an8}It was very, very specific and very, very pointed. 797 00:34:03,583 --> 00:34:06,395 {\an8}- She was white peopling, you know? 798 00:34:06,419 --> 00:34:10,149 {\an8}White people, y'all have racial slip-ups from time to time. 799 00:34:10,173 --> 00:34:12,026 Sometimes y'all get real comfortable 800 00:34:12,050 --> 00:34:14,946 and forget about history. 801 00:34:14,970 --> 00:34:17,156 - [Reporter] It was only after some immediate backlash 802 00:34:17,180 --> 00:34:18,532 that Barr then tweeted this. 803 00:34:18,556 --> 00:34:21,285 "I apologize to Valerie Jarrett and to all Americans. 804 00:34:21,309 --> 00:34:24,080 I'm truly sorry for making a bad joke about her politics 805 00:34:24,104 --> 00:34:25,331 and her looks." 806 00:34:25,355 --> 00:34:27,041 - Every comic has to look in the mirror 807 00:34:27,065 --> 00:34:29,001 {\an8}at the end of the day and say, 808 00:34:29,025 --> 00:34:32,046 {\an8}"Did I do what was right for me and for the world?" 809 00:34:32,070 --> 00:34:34,465 And you have to take your own inventory. 810 00:34:34,489 --> 00:34:37,051 {\an8}- I went, "Oh my God, they're gonna get her with this one 811 00:34:37,075 --> 00:34:37,844 {\an8}and I don't like it." 812 00:34:37,868 --> 00:34:39,303 {\an8}And then I started seeing it on the news 813 00:34:39,327 --> 00:34:40,805 {\an8}and I was like, "Ah!" 814 00:34:40,829 --> 00:34:42,056 I called her, I was like, "Rosie." 815 00:34:42,080 --> 00:34:44,517 "I (beep) up, I know." 816 00:34:44,541 --> 00:34:46,060 - Are you filming? 817 00:34:46,084 --> 00:34:47,270 - [Narrator] Roseanne and her son Jake 818 00:34:47,294 --> 00:34:49,188 hastily produced a video attempting 819 00:34:49,212 --> 00:34:50,714 to explain away her tweet. 820 00:34:51,631 --> 00:34:55,236 - I thought the bitch was white! 821 00:34:55,260 --> 00:34:56,261 God damn it! 822 00:34:57,637 --> 00:34:58,781 Did you get it? 823 00:34:58,805 --> 00:34:59,573 - [Jake] Oh, yeah. 824 00:34:59,597 --> 00:35:00,367 - Let me see it. 825 00:35:00,391 --> 00:35:04,912 - If her attempt was truly to be funny, she messed up. 826 00:35:04,936 --> 00:35:07,415 Like Carlin said, "You don't know where the line is 827 00:35:07,439 --> 00:35:08,708 until you cross it." 828 00:35:08,732 --> 00:35:12,378 And everybody let her know, especially ABC, 829 00:35:12,402 --> 00:35:13,587 that she crossed it. 830 00:35:13,611 --> 00:35:16,716 {\an8}- It is one of the most shocking developments in TV history. 831 00:35:16,740 --> 00:35:18,843 {\an8}- [Kevin] Roseanne's show is now canceled 832 00:35:18,867 --> 00:35:21,178 {\an8}and old episodes are pulled from the air. 833 00:35:21,202 --> 00:35:23,347 {\an8}- I figured ABC would never walk away 834 00:35:23,371 --> 00:35:26,100 {\an8}from tens of millions of dollars from "Roseanne," 835 00:35:26,124 --> 00:35:27,852 {\an8}but that's exactly what the network did. 836 00:35:27,876 --> 00:35:31,522 {\an8}- Bob Iger, who's a CEO of Disney called me 837 00:35:31,546 --> 00:35:32,441 {\an8}before the announcement. 838 00:35:32,465 --> 00:35:35,109 {\an8}He apologized, he said that he had zero tolerance 839 00:35:35,133 --> 00:35:37,594 {\an8}for that sort of racist bigoted comment. 840 00:35:38,970 --> 00:35:40,323 - [Narrator] And this wasn't the first time 841 00:35:40,347 --> 00:35:42,450 Roseanne had sunk to using this kind of racist, 842 00:35:42,474 --> 00:35:45,310 Islamophobic, transphobic language on Twitter. 843 00:35:47,020 --> 00:35:48,372 - I think there was a lot of concerns 844 00:35:48,396 --> 00:35:51,292 around a lot of her tweets for a long time. 845 00:35:51,316 --> 00:35:52,960 - If I was ABC, 846 00:35:52,984 --> 00:35:55,629 {\an8}I don't know that I would've rebooted the show 847 00:35:55,653 --> 00:35:58,049 {\an8}seeing that Twitter account. 848 00:35:58,073 --> 00:36:01,135 They had to see that this was gonna be problematic. 849 00:36:01,159 --> 00:36:02,636 - [Narrator] Obviously, network execs 850 00:36:02,660 --> 00:36:04,305 were now doing the math 851 00:36:04,329 --> 00:36:06,349 and Roseanne's Twitter account was no longer 852 00:36:06,373 --> 00:36:09,310 an acceptable risk to their bottom line. 853 00:36:09,334 --> 00:36:12,021 - How hard was it to fire Roseanne? 854 00:36:12,045 --> 00:36:14,648 {\an8}(audience laughs) 855 00:36:14,672 --> 00:36:16,150 {\an8}- Easy. 856 00:36:16,174 --> 00:36:19,278 - [Narrator] And in arguably the greatest surprise of all, 857 00:36:19,302 --> 00:36:21,805 Roseanne vowed that she was leaving Twitter. 858 00:36:22,931 --> 00:36:24,283 - [Interviewer] Are you off now, Twitter, forever? 859 00:36:24,307 --> 00:36:26,160 {\an8}- Well, my kids took it away from me forever. 860 00:36:26,184 --> 00:36:28,245 {\an8}- So, we haven't seen any new tweets 861 00:36:28,269 --> 00:36:31,582 {\an8}over the past few hours, but stay tuned. 862 00:36:31,606 --> 00:36:33,667 - You know, I made a mistake, obviously. 863 00:36:33,691 --> 00:36:37,254 {\an8}It cost me everything and I've paid the price for it. 864 00:36:37,278 --> 00:36:39,340 - [Narrator] But Roseanne's Twitter sabbatical 865 00:36:39,364 --> 00:36:40,508 didn't last long. 866 00:36:40,532 --> 00:36:42,635 {\an8}- [Reporter] Overnight, Roseanne Barr tapping out 867 00:36:42,659 --> 00:36:44,720 {\an8}another controversial tweet storm 868 00:36:44,744 --> 00:36:47,431 just hours after vowing she was leaving Twitter. 869 00:36:47,455 --> 00:36:48,225 - [Reporter] Later adding, 870 00:36:48,249 --> 00:36:50,893 "You guys make me feel like fighting back." 871 00:36:50,917 --> 00:36:52,353 - [Narrator] With her career in free fall, 872 00:36:52,377 --> 00:36:55,064 Roseanne's team scrambled to spin things. 873 00:36:55,088 --> 00:36:57,024 - I call my mom's publicist and I was like, 874 00:36:57,048 --> 00:36:58,901 "Look, what are you gonna say?" 875 00:36:58,925 --> 00:37:01,862 And he's like, "Oh, we're gonna go with Ambien." 876 00:37:01,886 --> 00:37:04,490 {\an8}- [Reporter] This morning, disgraced comedian Roseanne Barr 877 00:37:04,514 --> 00:37:06,242 {\an8}offering a new apology. 878 00:37:06,266 --> 00:37:08,411 - She's blaming sleeping pills for this. 879 00:37:08,435 --> 00:37:10,287 - [Narrator] Roseanne shifted the blame. 880 00:37:10,311 --> 00:37:12,331 - She also continues to blame Ambien. 881 00:37:12,355 --> 00:37:14,375 {\an8}She also continues to suggest that she didn't know 882 00:37:14,399 --> 00:37:16,127 {\an8}Valerie Jarrett was Black. 883 00:37:16,151 --> 00:37:16,920 {\an8}- She had no idea. 884 00:37:16,944 --> 00:37:19,839 - Well, Roseanne blaming the tweet on Ambien 885 00:37:19,863 --> 00:37:21,424 certainly doesn't help 886 00:37:21,448 --> 00:37:23,759 because now you're looking for a way out. 887 00:37:23,783 --> 00:37:25,344 - [Narrator] Sanofi, the pharmaceutical giant 888 00:37:25,368 --> 00:37:28,514 that makes Ambien, responded with their own tweet. 889 00:37:28,538 --> 00:37:31,642 - [Reporter] Saying, racism is not a known side effect 890 00:37:31,666 --> 00:37:34,019 of any of their medications. 891 00:37:34,043 --> 00:37:37,398 - For someone who's so brave and so bold in her comedy 892 00:37:37,422 --> 00:37:39,275 to not open your consciousness up. 893 00:37:39,299 --> 00:37:41,902 {\an8}You know what? It was a coward move. 894 00:37:41,926 --> 00:37:43,779 {\an8}- [Narrator] Coming midway through the Trump era, 895 00:37:43,803 --> 00:37:46,490 {\an8}the controversy around Roseanne and her tweet 896 00:37:46,514 --> 00:37:49,618 {\an8}were framed as a part of a broader culture war. 897 00:37:49,642 --> 00:37:51,328 - And look what happened to Roseanne. 898 00:37:51,352 --> 00:37:53,146 Did they fire Roseanne? Yes. 899 00:37:54,314 --> 00:37:57,001 {\an8}- Roseanne did not stop being famous after this happened. 900 00:37:57,025 --> 00:37:59,253 {\an8}There are people who are more fans of Roseanne 901 00:37:59,277 --> 00:38:00,254 {\an8}than they used to be, 902 00:38:00,278 --> 00:38:01,881 {\an8}who consider her more of a free-speech martyr 903 00:38:01,905 --> 00:38:04,341 {\an8}than they ever would have, had this never happened. 904 00:38:04,365 --> 00:38:05,634 - [Narrator] While many people were appalled 905 00:38:05,658 --> 00:38:08,721 by Roseanne's tweet, others on the far right fringes 906 00:38:08,745 --> 00:38:11,265 responded to it and its pointed language. 907 00:38:11,289 --> 00:38:14,435 {\an8}- When I saw Muslim Brotherhood in that tweet, 908 00:38:14,459 --> 00:38:16,020 {\an8}it was definitely Islamophobic. 909 00:38:16,044 --> 00:38:17,605 - There's plenty of people up in arms 910 00:38:17,629 --> 00:38:18,856 about the "Planet of the Apes" part 911 00:38:18,880 --> 00:38:21,150 and they should be because it's sickening, 912 00:38:21,174 --> 00:38:22,651 but the Muslim Brotherhood part, it's like, 913 00:38:22,675 --> 00:38:24,528 oh, yeah, no, that's fine. 914 00:38:24,552 --> 00:38:27,781 And plenty of her other tweets were so Islamophobic. 915 00:38:27,805 --> 00:38:30,409 - You know, what was so interesting in the backlash 916 00:38:30,433 --> 00:38:32,077 and the later on, after that, 917 00:38:32,101 --> 00:38:34,705 was the support that suddenly came for her 918 00:38:34,729 --> 00:38:36,248 from the maggot crowd. 919 00:38:36,272 --> 00:38:38,667 - I was surprised at how many people 920 00:38:38,691 --> 00:38:40,503 were coming to her defense and saying, 921 00:38:40,527 --> 00:38:42,379 "We stand with you, we support you. 922 00:38:42,403 --> 00:38:43,422 Oh, you were just joking." 923 00:38:43,446 --> 00:38:45,007 That was not a joke. 924 00:38:45,031 --> 00:38:46,717 - She just went from having a fan base 925 00:38:46,741 --> 00:38:49,386 that was gay and liberal to Trumpers. 926 00:38:49,410 --> 00:38:50,429 - Like it or not, 927 00:38:50,453 --> 00:38:52,389 you're now the face of the Trump supporter. 928 00:38:52,413 --> 00:38:55,434 {\an8}- I guess, thank you so much for walking with me 929 00:38:55,458 --> 00:38:59,212 {\an8}when I was like in a real down place, thank you. 930 00:39:01,339 --> 00:39:04,527 - You can be a Trump supporter and not be a racist. 931 00:39:04,551 --> 00:39:08,531 However, when you make certain statements, 932 00:39:08,555 --> 00:39:09,823 I won't call you a racist, 933 00:39:09,847 --> 00:39:13,369 but I will call you on your racist behavior and say, 934 00:39:13,393 --> 00:39:17,540 if it walks like a duck and if it quacks like a duck... 935 00:39:17,564 --> 00:39:18,707 That person happens to be black, 936 00:39:18,731 --> 00:39:20,251 this word is associated with you, 937 00:39:20,275 --> 00:39:22,086 I use it because I'm angry right now. 938 00:39:22,110 --> 00:39:25,673 If I can get you angry, then I've got that power back. 939 00:39:25,697 --> 00:39:29,426 It is about psychological and emotional control. 940 00:39:29,450 --> 00:39:31,428 - The comedian in you wants to go, 941 00:39:31,452 --> 00:39:34,348 Roseanne tried to be funny with the tweet, 942 00:39:34,372 --> 00:39:38,352 but you know, that felt personal, that felt vicious. 943 00:39:38,376 --> 00:39:41,981 {\an8}Like, that didn't even feel like an attempt to be funny. 944 00:39:42,005 --> 00:39:44,733 {\an8}- There's this sort of cliche that you can't joke 945 00:39:44,757 --> 00:39:47,778 {\an8}about anything anymore or comedians get in trouble. 946 00:39:47,802 --> 00:39:50,114 And then the example that is often provided 947 00:39:50,138 --> 00:39:53,784 is somebody's tweet, but a tweet is not stand-up, 948 00:39:53,808 --> 00:39:55,536 'cause even if it's a stand-up comic 949 00:39:55,560 --> 00:39:57,121 who's doing the tweeting, 950 00:39:57,145 --> 00:40:00,457 when they're tweeting, they're not doing stand-up. 951 00:40:00,481 --> 00:40:02,167 It's two different things. 952 00:40:02,191 --> 00:40:03,961 - [Narrator] Roseanne had always blurred the line 953 00:40:03,985 --> 00:40:06,422 between her comedy career and her highly politicized, 954 00:40:06,446 --> 00:40:09,258 increasingly problematic public persona. 955 00:40:09,282 --> 00:40:11,427 Now she had blurred another line 956 00:40:11,451 --> 00:40:14,471 between provocation and plain racism. 957 00:40:14,495 --> 00:40:16,581 This time she had gone too far. 958 00:40:21,544 --> 00:40:23,921 (eerie music) 959 00:40:26,049 --> 00:40:29,236 In the wake of Roseanne's exile from mainstream public life, 960 00:40:29,260 --> 00:40:31,989 ABC rebooted "Roseanne" again. 961 00:40:32,013 --> 00:40:34,867 {\an8}- ABC has announced plans for a new spinoff 962 00:40:34,891 --> 00:40:37,286 {\an8}featuring the cast without its star. 963 00:40:37,310 --> 00:40:39,496 {\an8}- [Narrator] The show returned as "The Connors" 964 00:40:39,520 --> 00:40:41,874 {\an8}with the main character having been killed off. 965 00:40:41,898 --> 00:40:44,585 {\an8}- Roseanne OD'd on opioids. 966 00:40:44,609 --> 00:40:45,878 - That's not possible. 967 00:40:45,902 --> 00:40:47,921 - It's like the worst thing they could have 968 00:40:47,945 --> 00:40:51,967 possibly done to me, was to fire me from my own show. 969 00:40:51,991 --> 00:40:53,969 - [Narrator] The star had always survived 970 00:40:53,993 --> 00:40:55,804 the worst public outcries. 971 00:40:55,828 --> 00:40:57,890 If anything, such controversies 972 00:40:57,914 --> 00:41:02,645 boosted her ratings and celebrity, but 973 00:41:02,669 --> 00:41:05,105 - Here's this icon, Roseanne, 974 00:41:05,129 --> 00:41:08,901 who is talking about conspiracy theories. 975 00:41:08,925 --> 00:41:11,528 Now you're doing damage. 976 00:41:11,552 --> 00:41:14,114 {\an8}- Biden, he is in bed with Russia. 977 00:41:14,138 --> 00:41:16,992 {\an8}The vote was fraudulent. Hello! 978 00:41:17,016 --> 00:41:18,035 - [Narrator] For years, 979 00:41:18,059 --> 00:41:20,621 Roseanne's contrarian attitude paid off. 980 00:41:20,645 --> 00:41:22,623 Her success stemmed from her ability 981 00:41:22,647 --> 00:41:24,833 to challenge the status quo 982 00:41:24,857 --> 00:41:27,753 and dig her heels in when she faced blow back. 983 00:41:27,777 --> 00:41:30,673 - I think that her success was, in a large part, 984 00:41:30,697 --> 00:41:33,384 due to not editing what she says 985 00:41:33,408 --> 00:41:36,720 and saying what she wanted to say when she wanted to say it. 986 00:41:36,744 --> 00:41:37,930 - Like a lot of people, okay, 987 00:41:37,954 --> 00:41:41,433 they come up to you, they go, "You're not very feminine. 988 00:41:41,457 --> 00:41:42,685 You're not very feminine." 989 00:41:42,709 --> 00:41:44,210 So I say, "Well, suck my (beep). 990 00:41:45,628 --> 00:41:49,132 - And I think that they loved her for it until they didn't. 991 00:41:51,092 --> 00:41:53,028 - [Narrator] She had always been unapologetic, 992 00:41:53,052 --> 00:41:56,514 which worked for her when she had nothing to apologize for. 993 00:41:57,557 --> 00:42:01,036 But now her words were risking real harm. 994 00:42:01,060 --> 00:42:03,914 - Look, there's 11% of people in America 995 00:42:03,938 --> 00:42:05,958 that don't think we've walked on the moon. 996 00:42:05,982 --> 00:42:09,545 There's roughly that much that thinks the earth is flat. 997 00:42:09,569 --> 00:42:13,674 {\an8}You take a couple of fanny shakes and a left turn 998 00:42:13,698 --> 00:42:16,927 {\an8}and you're saying things about people who are other races 999 00:42:16,951 --> 00:42:21,056 or faiths that are generalizations and untrue, 1000 00:42:21,080 --> 00:42:24,852 it's disinformation and people suck at the tit of it 1001 00:42:24,876 --> 00:42:28,814 until they're drunk, and drunk people hurt people. 1002 00:42:28,838 --> 00:42:31,233 - Should some people be canceled? 1003 00:42:31,257 --> 00:42:32,776 I mean, probably. 1004 00:42:32,800 --> 00:42:36,989 I mean, if you're gonna put real danger out there 1005 00:42:37,013 --> 00:42:39,158 for folks, yeah. 1006 00:42:39,182 --> 00:42:40,868 - [Narrator] In the years since she was written off 1007 00:42:40,892 --> 00:42:42,077 her own sitcom, 1008 00:42:42,101 --> 00:42:44,872 Roseanne has only moved further to the fringes. 1009 00:42:44,896 --> 00:42:47,624 - Like a lot of people who began dabbling 1010 00:42:47,648 --> 00:42:49,001 in some of these conspiracy theories, 1011 00:42:49,025 --> 00:42:52,129 I think Roseanne herself has spent more time exploring them. 1012 00:42:52,153 --> 00:42:54,715 I don't see any evidence of her getting convinced 1013 00:42:54,739 --> 00:42:57,259 that one of the ideas she was pushing was wrong and debunked 1014 00:42:57,283 --> 00:43:00,179 and she should turn the other way from it. 1015 00:43:00,203 --> 00:43:02,473 - [Narrator] From the id of the Midwestern housewife, 1016 00:43:02,497 --> 00:43:06,685 to America's tough love TV mom, to total pariah, 1017 00:43:06,709 --> 00:43:08,979 Roseanne has always served as a barometer 1018 00:43:09,003 --> 00:43:10,522 for life in America, 1019 00:43:10,546 --> 00:43:14,109 and, in a way, that may still be true. 1020 00:43:14,133 --> 00:43:16,236 - Roseanne is no longer on mainstream TV. 1021 00:43:16,260 --> 00:43:19,031 There's no longer this celebrity on that show 1022 00:43:19,055 --> 00:43:20,240 with these opinions, 1023 00:43:20,264 --> 00:43:23,118 but she's still around and she's going on alternative media 1024 00:43:23,142 --> 00:43:24,495 {\an8}to say these sorts of things. 1025 00:43:24,519 --> 00:43:27,206 {\an8}- So I wanna relate it to the whole Q movement 1026 00:43:27,230 --> 00:43:28,707 {\an8}that's big in the US, 1027 00:43:28,731 --> 00:43:31,251 {\an8}and I guess all over the world. 1028 00:43:31,275 --> 00:43:33,962 - And more celebrities, more people generally, 1029 00:43:33,986 --> 00:43:35,547 have embraced these sorts of ideas. 1030 00:43:35,571 --> 00:43:37,925 - Somebody said, "You should do a new Roseanne show 1031 00:43:37,949 --> 00:43:41,345 and say all your family was killed by illegal aliens." 1032 00:43:41,369 --> 00:43:45,224 - What Roseanne always did was took a snapshot of real life 1033 00:43:45,248 --> 00:43:46,600 and showed it to you. 1034 00:43:46,624 --> 00:43:50,103 {\an8}- Roseanne became famous because she said things 1035 00:43:50,127 --> 00:43:51,230 {\an8}like she saw them, 1036 00:43:51,254 --> 00:43:54,191 {\an8}and she came to kind of embody what's going on 1037 00:43:54,215 --> 00:43:57,653 {\an8}with middle America, with the conspiracy theories, 1038 00:43:57,677 --> 00:43:59,071 {\an8}with QAnon with all of these things, 1039 00:43:59,095 --> 00:44:02,157 {\an8}and we're getting lost in this one tweet, 1040 00:44:02,181 --> 00:44:03,659 {\an8}but she's really reflecting a lot 1041 00:44:03,683 --> 00:44:05,744 {\an8}of what's going on with America. 1042 00:44:05,768 --> 00:44:08,354 {\an8}That's what brought her up and that's what took her down.