Will Amazon pull Roseanne from Prime Video lineup?
Roseanne was canceled by ABC after a racist tweet by Roseanne Barr and now some are wondering if Amazon Prime will pull old seasons.
Roseanne Barr finds herself squarely in the middle of another controversy. The star, writer, producer and creator of the show that bears her name sent a racist tweet directed at former White House senior advisor Valerie Jarrett which led to the unceremonious cancellation of Roseanne by ABC.
She issued an excuse saying she was taking Ambien that led to her racist views being shared, again, on Twitter, and told her fans not to defend her indefensible tweet, which has since been deleted.
ABC wasn’t the only company to distance themselves from Barr, as Paramount, TV Land, CMT, and Laff, a digital network, all stopped airing reruns and discontinued that syndication. Further, Hulu pulled all of season 10 episodes from their streaming inventory.
Now, the only place fans can watch Roseanne is on Prime Video.
At least, for now.
I’m wondering if Amazon will follow ABC, Hulu, and the Viacom-owned networks and distance themselves from Roseanne Barr and remove the first nine seasons of the series.
Sure, it’s unfair for fans of the show because they did nothing wrong, but it’s the same argument for the other actors and crew members who worked on Roseanne but nonetheless are out of work today because of the actions of Barr.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Amazon decided it was in their best interest to pull Roseanne from Prime Video. Keeping the show may be interpreted by some as endorsing her views, which I don’t think they would be, but it would start a conversation that would put Amazon in a negative light. And that could be something they want to avoid with a simple deleting of the show from their inventory.
They can easily wipe their hands clean and call it a day. But for now, it appears that the series will remain on Prime Video, barring some large-scale protesting and boycotting from people on social media who won’t tolerate seeing the show anywhere.
And should that come to it, fans could always buy the complete series on DVD for $27.99 which is 47 percent off the normal price, and Prime members get free shipping.