ABC cancels 'Roseanne' after Roseanne Barr compares black Obama aide Valerie Jarrett to an ape

ABC announced on Tuesday that it would cancel the hit sitcom "Roseanne" following "abhorrent" comments from the show's star, Roseanne Barr, who had compared former Obama advisor Valerie Jarrett to an ape.

Just an hour later, Barr's talent agency ICM Partners dropped her as a client, the firm confirmed to CNBC.

Barr's swift downfall comes after a year of successes, including record ratings for her show's debut and a congratulatory call from the president. Throughout, however, Barr has attracted criticism for her use of social media to provoke, attack, and spread conspiracy theories.

"Roseanne's Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show," Channing Dungey, president of ABC Entertainment, said in a statement Tuesday.

In a since-deleted tweet, Barr said of Jarrett: "muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj."

Critics immediately slammed Barr's remark as racist. Likening black people to apes is an attack commonly used by racists. The Muslim Brotherhood, meanwhile, is an Islamist political group. Barr had apologized for her comments earlier in the day and said she would be refraining from using her Twitter account, which was still live at the time of publication.

The CEO of ABC's parent company, the Walt Disney Co., agreed with the decision to cancel the series.

"You can't debate what is morally right," Bob Iger said in an interview with CNBC's David Faber minutes after the announcement.

Iger said there was no debate internally about what to do. He discussed the cancellation with Ben Sherwood, president of the Disney-ABC Television Group, and other executives, according to Faber.

"There was only one thing to do here, and that was the right thing," Iger said in a tweet that quoted Dungey's statement.

Iger called Jarrett ahead of the announcement to tell her the show would be canceled, according to MSNBC.

"This should be a teaching moment," Jarrett said during the taping of "Everyday Racism in America," a special airing at 9 pm ET on the news network.

In March, Sherwood told The New York Times that "you can't control Roseanne Barr." "Many who have tried have failed. She's the one and only."

Dungey, who announced that the show would be canceled, is the first black head of a major broadcast TV network, the Associated Press reported when she was tapped to lead ABC in 2016.

In a statement, ICM Partners said it was "distressed" by Barr's tweet.

"What she wrote is antithetical to our core values, both as individuals and as an agency. Consequently, we have notified her that we will not represent her. Effective immediately, Roseanne Barr is no longer a client."

"I apologize to Valerie Jarrett and to all Americans," Barr wrote on Twitter. "I am truly sorry for making a bad joke about her politics and her looks. I should have known better. Forgive me-my joke was in bad taste."

A representative for Jarrett declined to comment on Barr's tweet.

The actress had earlier defended the statement against other critics on the social media platform.

"Roseanne" returned to television this year after an initial run in the 1980s and '90s. The show was an immediate hit, with more than 18 million viewers watching the premiere. The show was renewed for a second season in March.

Barr, whose provocative Twitter presence rankled ABC executives, has been an outspoken proponent of President Donald Trump. In March, Trump called Barr to congratulate her on her ratings success.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders declined to comment on the cancellation to NBC News on Tuesday.