Tom Arnold Calls ‘Roseanne’ Cancellation A ‘Tough Decision,’ But Thinks It Was ‘Right For America’


Tom Arnold – known for many things, including being the ex-husband of Roseanne Barr – joined the string of celebrities reacting to his ex-wife’s racist tweet about Valerie Jarrett. According to PEOPLE, Arnold not only slammed his ex-wife for her racist comment, he applauded Disney CEO Bob Iger for the decision to cancel the Roseanne reboot.

This intense firestorm started after Barr tweeted a racist comment on Monday attacking Valerie Jarrett, former Barack Obama advisor. While the tweet has since been deleted, several media outlets captured screenshots of the racist Twitter rant.

“Muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby = vj.”

Roseanne used “VJ” the initials of Valerie Jarrett as she responded to a conspiracy theory regarding the Barack Obama administration.

Arnold – also known for his role as Arnie in Roseanne– claimed on social media that he had previously warned the ABC network about the toxic and “dangerous” tweets of his ex-wife. He claimed the network “shut down” his attempts to call attention to the tweets.

“ABC execs figured out a way to control me. They blocked me from promoting anything on ABC because I called out Roseanne Barr & her dangerous tweets.”

Barr’s ex-husband did, however, take time to commend Bob Iger on his decision to cancel the show. He – and many others – imagine it was an especially hard decision considering the series had already been previously renewed for another season.

“Ton of respect for Bob Iger. Tough decision with financial consequences for his company but right for America….umm…now don’t bug Bob but maybe someone else find out if I’m still banned from all of @ABCNetwork for calling Roseanne Barr out first on her racist conspiracy tweets?”

In addition to playing the role of Arnie, Tom also worked on the original Roseanne as both a producer and a writer. He was married to Barr from 1990 to 1994. He was fired from the series in 1994, the same year he and Roseanne got divorced. His character sort of just vanished from the series after, not really giving a clear reason for the exit of Arnie in the story line.

According to PEOPLE, Arnold wasn’t exactly a fan of the Roseanne reboot from the beginning, as he criticized Barr for transforming from a “feminist-pacifist voice for the working folks” to a “far-right Trump-loving troll who’s gone hard against liberals and Hillary supporters and even #MeToo women.”

Tom Arnold is just one of many celebrities to slam Roseanne Barr, as the Inquisitr has previously reported.

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