Comment: The staggering cost facing ABC for axing Roseanne

If you trawl the internet reading responses to the cancellation of the hit show Roseanne after its co-creator, Roseanne Barr, tweeted a reprehensible racist tweet overnight, one sentiment stands out.

It's not the wounded shrieks about "free speech!" from conservative pundits — those are entirely predictable. Nor is it the fevered hissing from the crazed conspiracy theorists who think the network's decision is part of an evil plot led by the Deep State. No, the sentiment that stands out most is a sort of weary, helpless relief.

Finally. Finally a big fish, a megastar, someone who is still making serious coin with a popular show is being held to account for dangerous and repugnant racism.

The reboot of Roseanne has been cancelled after the star's offensive tweets. That's despite huge ratings. and the network making money from it. Photo / ABC

Finally a corporation is willing to lose money and viewers to defend what's right. The Roseanne reboot was the ABC network's top-rating primetime entertainment show and had brought in more than US$22.8 million ($33m) in ad revenue after just nine episodes, according to Reuters.

The second season had already been pitched to advertisers and was expected to put US$60m into the network's coffers, according to estimates from research firm Kantar Media.

Finally, in a world where the sitting United States President can call Mexicans rapists and talk about "s***hole" African countries with impunity, and African American football players can have their careers destroyed if they refuse to stand for the national anthem, someone is paying a price.

Finally, all of us are saying "enough".

In case you missed it, Barr tweeted this overnight: "Muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby = vj."

ABC in the US, plus networks that were screening the show around the world are set to lose huge amounts of money from the cancellation of Roseanne. Photo / ABC

"VJ" is Valerie Jarrett, a former senior adviser to President Barack Obama. The 'Muslim brotherhood' dig is a reference to the fact that Jarrett was born in Iran and the ape insult is a racist gibe at Jarrett's African American heritage. The whole thing is ugly, senseless and typical of the sort of unhinged, rudderless trolling that characterises the far right in the US.

But what's different this time is that finally someone is taking action. Just hours after Barr sent the tweet, ABC network head Channing Dungey said in a statement that it was "abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values", and added very firmly that the network had decided to cancel her show.

The sitcom was a massive hit in the '80s and '90s, and reruns are still popular. Networks will lose millions by pulling the show from their screens.

It's a huge call. The ABC stands to lose a lot from axing their cash cow — not just in revenue from the current series but in syndication fees as networks around the world rush to pull lucrative reruns of the 1980s/1990s Roseanne series from their schedules.

The sitcom was a massive hit in the 80s and 90s, and re-runs are still popular. Networks will lose millions by pulling the show from their screens.

It's a stunning sign of the times that the axe has finally fallen. After all, it's not the first time Barr has shared her offensive views, many which have swerved wildly all over the political spectrum, but always with the express aim of causing maximum damage to groups and individuals.

In the past she's tweeted about "Islamic pedo culture". She called Israel a "Nazi state" but then dressed up as Hitler for a magazine spread and defended a musician who identified as a holocaust denier. She called Hillary Clinton's former aide Huma Abedin a "filthy Nazi whore" and tweeted that Obama's national security adviser Susan Rice — an African American woman — was a "man with big swinging ape balls".

Roseanne Barr previously posed as Adolf Hitler for Heeb Magazine, and yet was still making huge money. Until now. Photo / Heeb Magazine

It's difficult to keep a handle on exactly what her views are — the only thing that ties them together is hatred.

And the rest of us, it would seem, have finally had enough of hatred.

With luck, Roseanne's demise will set a precedent for future entertainers and other prominent figures who may feel the urge to spew bile into the world.

For anyone who feels empowered by the racism that has trickled down from the top of the White House since Trump's election, as well as the rise of xenophobic, racist governments around the world and the ramblings of angry lunatics like Infowar's Alex Jones and Breitbart's Steve Bannon, this incident should tell you that your time is drawing to a close.

You've stayed your hour. Neither your money nor your fame will protect you any more.

Exercise your right to free speech by all means, but don't be surprised when that speech outs you as a racist moron and the pay cheques start to dry up.

Actress Debra Messing, star of the hit show Will and Grace, went out of her way to thank her industry for finally putting people before profits in a tweet of her own:

"I just heard Roseanne is cancelled. My reaction — tears," she wrote. "I'm just so relieved and grateful. The hate that has been spewing from those in Trump's orbit has really taken a toll on all our souls and psyches. I didn't believe it would happen. I had lost faith. Thank you ABC."