Channing Dungey, ABC President, Speaks Out About Roseanne Cancellation

Channing Dungey has been the president of ABC Network for over two years and tries to stay out of the spotlight.  However, she has stepped out to speak up on the cancellation of Roseanne, following the controversial tweets made by Roseanne Barr.

Dungey announced this week that Barr was fired from ABC due to her racist tweet about President Barack Obama‘s former adviser, Valerie Jarrett, that was inconsistent with the network’s views.

“Roseanne’s Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show,” Dungey said in a statement.

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However, the cancellation of the show was not a decision made by Dungey alone, Ben Sherwood, president of the Disney-ABC Television Group, and Robert Iger, Disney’s chief executive, also backed the idea.

Following her statement, her name started trending on Twitter due to the overwhelming amount of users expressing their gratitude for her standing up to intolerable behavior, even if it means losing a big name series on her network.

Stars like Viola Davis, Kerry Washington, Shonda Rhimes and Emma Kenney all showed their support for Dungey.

Thank you Channing Dungey!https://t.co/VIlKTF9y7Z

— Viola Davis (@violadavis) May 29, 2018

My prayers go out to the cast and crew who will now pay the price. But THANK YOU @RobertIger, #ChanningDungey and @ABCNetwork for standing up against bigotry. #Rosanne

— kerry washington (@kerrywashington) May 29, 2018

Thank you, Channing. #justice

— shonda rhimes (@shondarhimes) May 29, 2018

As I called my manager to quit working on Roseanne, I was told it was cancelled. I feel so empowered by @iamwandasykes , Channing Dungey and anyone at ABC standing up for morals and abuse of power. Bullies will NEVER win.

— Emma Kenney (@EmmaRoseKenney) May 29, 2018

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Dungey broke barriers in February of 2016 when she became the first African-American woman to be an entertainment president of a Big Four network. She already had to deal with controversy from Roseanne when the network decided to air the reboot. Dungey was also president when the network experienced backlash from pulling an episode of Black-ish that dealt with race relations in America.

However, in light of the Roseanne cancellation, many are applauding her on deciding to let go of the series, rather than defending Barr’s actions. ABC is currently looking at a spin-off that focuses on Darlene, allowing everyone who worked on the show to keep their jobs.