Wanda Sykes Reveals Why She Quit Writing for 'Roseanne' after the Controversial Racist Scandal

Wanda Sykes quit ABC’s sitcom "Roseanne" after its main character, Roseanne Barr’s racist tweet. In an interview, she explained why she left the show before its cancellation and revealed further details about "Roseanne."

Wanda Sykes decided to leave ABC’s sitcom, "Roseanne" Show, following Roseanne Barr’s racial tweet scandal.

She was a guest on SiriusXM radio’s Jim and Sam show and gave details of what prompted her to make the decision even before the show’s cancellation.

ROSEANNE’S TWEET

Roseanne Barr caused a major uproar on social media when she infamously tweeted about Valerie Jarett, who was a former official to former U.S President, Barrack Obama.

In the tweet, she likened Valerie to Planets of the Apes; the tweet was termed racist and led to full condemnation by ABC network’s president, and subsequent cancellation of the show.

ROSEANNE WASN’T ALWAYS THAT WAY

While on the interview, Wanda explained that in all her time working with Roseanne, and in their interpersonal relationship, she had never seen her as someone enmeshed in conspiracy theories and racial propaganda.

However, she also revealed that her (Roseanne’s) social media personality was always different as she was always in one controversy or another.

That part of Roseanne worried Wanda so much, and she expressed her fears in 2015 while the pair worked together on "Last Comic Standing." She even passed a comment that they had to get Roseanne off Twitter.

WANDA DECIDES TO QUIT

In the aftermath of Roseanne’s tweet, the “ABC” network decided to sever ties with Roseanne and ended the production of her series. However, before they made that decision, Wanda already quit the show.

While she was about to text the show’s showrunner about the second season, she received tweets from some of her friends, all referring to Roseanne’s tweet. At that point, she decided she was no longer going to be part of the show and quit.

ROSEANNE’S APOLOGY AND DEFENSE

Roseanne would later apologize for her tweet, also claiming that she didn’t know that Valerie Jarrett was a Black-American, but Wanda didn’t buy into that, as she thinks it was all damage control. She also backed ABC’s decision not to accept Roseanne’s apology, as the country’s divided state made it impossible to take.

ROSEANNE BARR NOW USES TROLL ACCOUNTS

In the aftermath of the racist tweet scandal, the 66-year-old comedian revealed she still tweets about her unfiltered opinions on Twitter, but not with her name.

She explained that she uses troll accounts for this purpose, so as not to get into controversy again. She also said many people possess troll accounts, but failed to give details about the number of troll accounts she manages and what topics she tweets on.