Update (8:42 a.m.): Roseanne Barr's Twitter account resurfaced late Tuesday night. She blamed her racist tweet about former Obama advisor Valerie Jarrett on Ambien.
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Red Sox chairman Tom Werner, who served as executive producer of the original "Roseanne" series and its reboot, said Tuesday he is supportive of ABC's decision to cancel the hit sitcom after Roseanne Barr's racist tweet targeting one of President Barack Obama's former White House advisors, Valerie Jarrett.
"I support ABC's decision to cancel the show in the wake of Roseanne Barr's most recent reprehensible tweets," Werner said in a statement. "Our goal was to promote constructive discussion about the issues that divide us. It represented the work of hundreds of talented people. I hope the good work done is not totally eclipsed by these abhorrent and offensive comments, and that Roseanne seeks the help she so clearly needs."
Late Monday night, Barr compared Jarrett, who is black, to an ape. "Muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj," Barr said in a now-deleted tweet.
ABC cancelled "Roseanne" Monday afternoon. ABC's entertainment president, Channing Dungey, made the announcement. "Roseanne's Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values," he said in a statement.
Barr apologized for the tweet, saying her comment was in "bad taste." The comedian temporarily deleted her Twitter account, but reactivated it later Tuesday.
In addition, Barr posted a debunked conspiracy theory falsely accusing progressive philanthropist George Soros of cooperating with Nazis and "turning in his fellow Jews 2 be murdered in German concentration camps" and stealing their wealth.
This isn't the first time Barr has posted racist and outrageous messages on Twitter. In 2013, she called former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice a "man with big swinging ape balls."
Earlier this year, Barr propagated a far right-wing conspiracy about Democrats engaging in satanic child-sex trafficking rings.
The original "Roseanne" ran from 1987-1997 and featured a blue-collar family. It was praised for its realistic portrayal of working class life. ABC aired 10 new episodes of the show from March-May and renewed the program for a second season that was set to air this fall.
The "Roseanne" revival was a ratings hit for ABC, drawing 18.2 million viewers for its premier March 28. At the network's upfront presentation to advertisers earlier this month, ABC executives joked about Barr's erratic Twitter feed.





