In the wake of Jimmy Kimmel being taken off the air, Roseanne Barr alleges that Barack and Michelle Obama directly pressured Bob Iger and Disney to fire from from her own show.
Former President Barack Obama ignited a firestorm on social media Thursday after weighing in on the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show. Obama accused the current Trump administration of escalating cancel culture by “routinely threatening regulatory action against media companies unless they muzzle or fire reporters and commentators it doesn’t like.”
After years of complaining about cancel culture, the current administration has taken it to a new and dangerous level by routinely threatening regulatory action against media companies unless they muzzle or fire reporters and commentators it doesn’t like. https://t.co/uts7JpJZzN
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) September 18, 2025
But his comments quickly drew a sharp and personal rebuke from someone who has her own history with Disney: Roseanne Barr.
Roseanne Barr’s Allegation
Within an hour of Obama’s post, Barr fired back on X.
Remember when you and your wife called Bob Iger to have me fired? https://t.co/w5BcJ1bsLC
— Roseanne Barr (@therealroseanne) September 18, 2025
“Remember when you and your wife called Bob Iger to have me fired?” the comedian who was once the face of ABC’s primetime comedy lineup said.
The accusation instantly reignited debate over the 2018 firing that ended her hit ABC revival Roseanne.
The 2018 Firing of Roseanne
On May 29, 2018, Barr’s top-rated show was abruptly canceled just hours after she posted a tweet comparing former Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett to characters from Planet of the Apes while criticizing the Obama-era Iran Nuclear Deal. Barr has said repeatedly since then that she was not aware Jarrett was Black. The backlash was immediate.
Roseanne Barr laughs at the Comedy Central Roast of Roseanne – YouTube, Comedy Central UK
That same day, then-ABC Entertainment president Channing Dungey issued a scathing statement.
“Roseanne’s Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values,” he said, “and we have decided to cancel her show.”
The announcement came despite Roseanne being one of the most successful sitcoms of that year, regularly topping ratings.
Bob Iger’s Role
In his 2019 memoir The Ride of a Lifetime, Disney CEO Bob Iger revealed that the final call to axe the series was his.
He wrote: “If any of our employees tweeted what she tweeted, they’d be immediately terminated.”
Bob Iger via CNBC Television YouTube
Iger also noted that before making the announcement, he personally called Valerie Jarrett to give her a heads-up. That detail fueled speculation at the time about political influence behind the scenes, though Iger maintained the decision was based on Disney’s internal standards.
The Obama Connection
While Roseanne now alleges that both Barack and Michelle Obama were directly involved in pressuring Iger, there has never been public documentation proving such intervention. The only on-the-record link is Iger’s call to Jarrett herself.
Barack and Michelle Obama sit for an interview – Youtube, People
Nevertheless, Barr’s accusation has rekindled old debates about whether her ouster was truly a corporate decision or the result of outside political pressure.
Obama’s Comments on Kimmel
Obama’s original statement Thursday was intended as a defense of Jimmy Kimmel, whose late-night program has been pulled indefinitely after he reportedly refused to apologize for controversial misinformation on his show over the killing of Charlie Kirk.
Obama framed the situation as a chilling example of government coercion.
Jimmy Kimmel in a promo ad for Who Wants to Be a Millionaire
“After years of complaining about cancel culture, the current administration has taken it to a new and dangerous level by routinely threatening regulatory action against media companies unless they muzzle or fire reporters and commentators it doesn’t like,” he said.
That framing—warning of political overreach into media decisions—invited Barr’s biting reminder that she herself had been canceled while Obama was in office. And she alleges Obama did something very similar to what he’s accusing Trump of.
Roseanne vs. Kimmel: Two Very Different Cases
Roseanne Barr has been adamant that her firing in 2018 cannot be compared to Jimmy Kimmel’s current suspension. The contexts, she argues, are worlds apart.
Barr’s infamous tweet about Valerie Jarrett was widely denounced as offensive. Barr, however, has long maintained that her firing was not about one bad joke but about her outspoken criticism of the Iran nuclear deal. In her words, she was “slandered into oblivion” for telling the truth about Obama-era foreign policy.
Roseanne Barr on her Podcast – YouTube, Roseanne Barr
Kimmel’s case looks very different. Rather than a single offensive jab, the late-night host is accused of spreading misinformation in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s murder, falsely claiming the killer was a Trump supporter despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. That distinction, Barr argues, matters.
Because they aren’t the same. I wasn’t fired for lying I was fired for telling the truth about the Iran deal and slandered into oblivion. This will still be worse for our side than theirs. Kimmel will get an entire PR tour to clear his name with the backing of all media. https://t.co/oiIInDLJGA
— Roseanne Barr (@therealroseanne) September 18, 2025
“They aren’t the same,” Barr said on X. “I wasn’t fired for lying. I was fired for telling the truth about the Iran deal and slandered into oblivion. This will still be worse for our side than theirs. Kimmel will get an entire PR tour to clear his name with the backing of all media.”
There’s also a regulatory angle in play. Under FCC rules, broadcasters are prohibited from deliberately airing false information, with “news distortion” policies carrying potential penalties if violations are proven. Roseanne’s case was a matter of corporate discipline. Kimmel’s, at least in theory, raises legal questions if regulators conclude his broadcast commentary crossed the line into knowingly false reporting.
A screenshot of Jimmy Kimmel crying on TV after the election of Donald Trump – YouTube, Jimmy Kimmel Live
In short, one incident was an offensive personal remark that cost Barr her show, while the other involves potential misinformation with wider public implications. Barr insists those differences explain why Kimmel will be given a chance to rehabilitate his image — while she was cast aside without recourse.
Free Speech or Double Standard?
The clash between Obama and Roseanne Barr highlights a glaring divide in how cancel culture is remembered and applied. Obama is warning that political leaders should not intimidate companies into silencing critics. Roseanne, however, argues that the Obamas did exactly that in her case seven years ago.
Roseanne Barr in an interview – YouTube, Bunnie Xo
Whether one accepts Barr’s claim or not, the timing of her rebuttal is demonstrative of the lingering resentment around her firing and the broader national debate over free expression, corporate pressure, and politics in entertainment.
Do you think President Obama deliberately got Roseanne fired? Sound off in the comments and let us know!
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In other words, the Left thinks it’s okay for them to do whatever, but it’s not okay if it even looks like the Right does the same.
How bad were Kimmel’s ratings? I think this just provided an excuse to be rid of him. A random bunny on the internet is funnier than Kimmel with a full set of writers.
“Rules for thee but not for me”
Not sure on the ratings but Yimmy’s show was costing ABC $40 million a year in losses. There was also talk about the network canceling his show long before this because his show was failing and his contract was not being renewed next year. Now it’s pretty much a done deal that he’s never going to work for ABC again. The FCC will be watching him and them like a hawk for years to come.
It isn’t the same at all and you know it. The trump admin called for Kimmel to be fired and he was. They said it was for mocking kirk, but he didn’t even mock him, he mocked the president’s lack of concern over Kirk. On 10 September Kimmel immediately went on social media and condemned what happened to Kirk and offered condolences to the family. To say that he was mocking Kirk is just a lie.
Also, why are we just believing Barr’s wild claim that Obama got her fired. She compared a black lady to an ape while holding a very public position in a media company. It doesn’t take a government conspiracy to explain what happened to her. (Not that it is relevant, but I personally don’t think it was right to fire her, or anyone else, for saying something foolish or hateful. Free speech absolutism is one of the few things Kirk and I agreed on.)
Kimmel lied about the killer being part of MAGA. You’re not even close. But hey, thanks for being a premium member and helping the site.
Not only is this spin, it’s stupid spin to enable maga to dismiss the seriousness of what happened.
There is no evidence of the Obama connection that exists outside of Barr’s imagination. She said something racist as a public figure in the company and she got fired (I do not support that, BTW).
Kimmel was completely different. The FCC chair publicly threatened ABC right before he was fired. It doesn’t matter what he said, but he didn’t say anything insulting about kirk or celebrated what happened to him, he just said that maga was desperate to prove that it wasn’t one of them who did it. Later it turned out that it wasn’t one of them. But at the time it was entirely reasonable to assume that the white guy from a maga family in Utah who was really into guns might be maga.
The only person he insulted with that joke was trump because, in the clip he showed, trump was more interested in the ballroom than in Kirk.
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