Roseanne Barr celebrates ‘Roseanne’ renewal with tweets about child sex-trafficking ring
Hours after the hit revival of her sitcom “Roseanne” was renewed by ABC, Roseanne Barr capped off a triumphant professional week in traditional Roseanne fashion: by wading into controversy.
Barr sparked a media furor by apparently tweeting about a bizarre conspiracy theory about child sex-trafficking.
“President Trump has freed so many children held in bondage to pimps all over this world. Hundreds each month. He has broken up trafficking rings in high places everywhere. notice that. I disagree on some things, but give him benefit of doubt-4 now,” she wrote on Friday night.
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The tweet suggests Barr supports a right-wing conspiracy theory known online as “the Storm,” which holds that Trump is breaking up a massive pedophile ring involving a number of Democratic politicians. While she did not explicitly refer to the theory in Friday’s tweet, she has in recent months shared or retweeted links about it.
Barr’s tweet drew widespread criticism and mockery on Friday night, and within a few hours she appeared to backpedal somewhat. “I have worked with victims of trafficking for decades & supported the fight against it. Sorry to have mentioned it here. It’s not the place,” she tweeted.
ABC did not respond to a request for comment on Saturday.
Since “Roseanne” debuted in 1988, Barr has been a magnet for controversy. As chronicled by the Daily Beast, in recent years she has espoused a number of fringe ideas on Twitter, including conspiracy theories about the death of slain Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich and about the supposed millions of undocumented immigrants who voted in the 2016 election, though many of those tweets have since been scrubbed from her account.
The premiere of “Roseanne” drew a whopping 18.2 million viewers, making it the highest-rated network sitcom episode since 2014, and even besting the finale of the original series back in 1997.
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