In Hollywood, saying the wrong thing can hurt–or even crush–a career.
Just ask Michael Richards of Seinfeld fame. Or director Brett Ratner, who lost his gig producing the Oscars after letting loose with an anti-gay slur.
Yet here comes Roseanne Barr, the former sitcom queen who routinely spits out hateful comments, signing a deal with NBC to produce and star in her own show.
NBC is betting on the up-again-down-again Roseanne Barr, signing the television icon to an overall deal that calls for her to develop a show she will star in and produce for the network…
As part of the deal, Barr also will guest star in a three-episode arc on NBC’s “The Office” as talent agent Carla Fern. She will help Andy Bernard (Ed Helms) pursue the career in show business he has always dreamed about.
Why would a network cozy up to a performer with this kind of track record:
- She wished former Vice President Dick Cheney would die rather than receive a heart transplant
- She said Chick-fil-A customers deserve to get cancer.
- She tweeted the address of George Zimmerman’s parents.
- She said Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney is “pro-rape” (if she uttered a similar remark about President Barack Obama she’d be lucky to ink a cable access program).
This isn’t a case of a network willing to put ethics aside to land a rising star, the kind of comic who comes around once in a generation. Barr’s glory years are 20 years behind her courtesy of her groundbreaking sitcom Roseanne. She’s no longer cutting edge, let alone funny.
She is liberal, though, so apparently all of the above venom is either ignored or, in some cases, a resume enhancer.
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