The latest episode of Roseanne has been slammed for mocking TV shows about “black and Asian families”.
Roseanne‘s latest episode titled’Roseanne Gets the Chair’ has been criticised for joke that mocks “black and Asian families”.
In the episode, Roseanne and her husband Dan Conner (John Goodman) wake up from a nap in front of the TV before engaging in the following dialogue:
Dan: “What time is it? Did I miss dinner?”
Roseanne: “It’s 11, we slept from Wheel to Kimmel.”
Dan: “We missed all the shows about black and Asian families.”
Roseanne: “They’re just like us – there, now you’re all caught up.”
Many believe that the shows the characters are referring to are ABC’s only two minority-led family sitcoms: Black-ish and Fresh Off the Boat.
Taiwanese-American actor, writer and producer Kelvin Yu wrote a nine-tweet thread in response.
“Here’s why the Roseanne joke about ‘missing all the shows about Black and Asian families’ matter. At the very least, it’s reductive and belittling, as if to say those shows are nothing more than ‘Black’ and ‘Asian’ in their existence.”
“But the real kicker is when Roseanne says: ‘They’re just like us. There, now you’re all caught up.’ Which implies that the point of any show about a minority family is simply to normalise them. That’s it. The stories, the humour, the characters… not important.”
“Then you take ALLLLLL of that and put it in the mouth of an avowed Trump supporter (not the actress – the CHARACTER of Roseanne) and you have one stinky little shit sandwich of a joke that ABC allowed to be served in their own restaurant. It’s a big deal.”
Others on Twitter seemed to agree. “@therealroseanne is a bad racist joke of a caricature/person,” one person wrote. “So sad.”
“Wow, so this revival is just openly racist,” said another. ““They’re just like us” ?”
so… they just insulted #blackish and #FreshOfftheBoat on #roseanne… classy. on the exact same network. @RoseanneOnABC
— Chris LaRose (@chrisjlarose) April 4, 2018
Wow, so this revival is just openly racist. “They’re just like us” ? #Roseanne
— Anne Thorpe (@misanthrope1969) April 4, 2018
@RoseanneOnABC @therealroseanne is a bad racist joke of a caricature/person. So sad. https://t.co/OKeXN2jZMj
— Elbert Avery (@emanavery) April 5, 2018
Here’s why the Roseanne joke about “missing all the shows about Black and Asian families” matters. At the very least, it’s reductive and belittling, as if to say those shows are nothing more than “Black” and “Asian” in their existence. 1/9
— Kelvin Yu (@InternetKelvin) April 5, 2018
But the real kicker is when Roseanne says: “They’re just like us. There, now you’re all caught up.” Which implies that the point of any show about a minority family is simply to normalize them. That’s it. The stories, the humor, the characters… not important. 2/9
— Kelvin Yu (@InternetKelvin) April 5, 2018
Then you take ALLLLLL of that and put it in the mouth of an avowed Trump supporter (not the actress–the CHARACTER of Roseanne) and you have one stinky little shit sandwich of a joke that ABC allowed to be served in their own restaurant. It’s a big deal. 3/9
— Kelvin Yu (@InternetKelvin) April 5, 2018
Do I think the characters Roseanne and Dan watch Blackish or Fresh Off The Boat? Of course not. Do I think they’d say something PC about them? Probably not. But the point is, they didn’t HAVE to say ANYTHING. They didn’t have to write that joke at all. It’s not even a joke. 4/9
— Kelvin Yu (@InternetKelvin) April 5, 2018
Consider what exactly the audience is laughing at. What exactly is the punchline here? I’ll tell you what it is: it’s an endorsement of dismissiveness and disregard. It’s a familiarity and comfort with the culture of objectifying and demeaning people of color. 5/9
— Kelvin Yu (@InternetKelvin) April 5, 2018
Keep in mind, ABC was all too willing to bar Kenya Barris from airing an episode about kneeling during the nat’l anthem because of a fear it would be divisive and alienating. Blackish is one of only a handful of shows about Black families on the air. 6/9
— Kelvin Yu (@InternetKelvin) April 5, 2018
Fresh Off The Boat is the ONLY show about an Asian American family. Meanwhile, Roseanne is currently being touted as the refreshing voice of an underrepresented group (conservative women). 7/9
— Kelvin Yu (@InternetKelvin) April 5, 2018
Here’s my point: they rebooted a beloved 90s sitcom & updated the main character to be a Trump voter under the pretense that it was a realistic portrayal of the the white working class. Then in ep 2, they depict her LITERALLY SLEEPING through stories about people of color. 8/9
— Kelvin Yu (@InternetKelvin) April 5, 2018
I’m not saying it’s inaccurate to have her do this. I actually think it’s TOO accurate (and also not that funny?). Maybe next week, Dan and Roseanne explain to their grandchildrem that Santa and Sandy Hook are both fake and we can all just laugh and laugh. 9/9
— Kelvin Yu (@InternetKelvin) April 5, 2018
