For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails
Kelsey Grammar thinks Roseanne Bar r should be forgiven for posting a racist tweet about Barack Obama's former adviser.
The actor, who appears in new series Proven Innocent , was talking about a possible reboot of his hit sitcom Frasier when he brought up the furore surrounding Barr.
ABC sacked Barr and cancelled her comedy reboot after she compared Valerie Jarrett, who is African-American, to Planet of the Apes and linked her to the Islamist organisation the Muslim Brotherhood. Barr later claimed she thought Ms Jarrett was white.
The network later announced it was creating a new comedy series called The Conners , which would reunite the other members of the original show, including John Goodman, Laurie Metcalf and Sara Gilbert.
“I actually really liked Roseanne when it was back with Roseanne. I'm not so crazy about The Conners ,” Grammar told The Hollywood Reporter . “I don't mean to be an a**hole about it, but it just seems like the fundamental piece is missing, however that all went.”
Worst Oscar speechesShow all 10 Worst Oscar speeches Sally Field for Places in the Heart Sally Field set the bar high for self-congratulations with her infamous Best Actress acceptance speech in 1985. Often misquoted as “You like me, you really like me,” Field actually said: “I can’t deny the fact that you like me, right now, you like me!” The look-at-me sentiment was clear and the catchphrase would last in the public memory longer than most of her films. Luckily, Field saw the funny side of things, repeating the line in a commercial for Charles Schwab bank in 2000.
Rex
Worst Oscar speeches Gwyenth Paltrow for Shakespeare in Love Gwyneth Paltrow’s weepy Best Actress acceptance speech for 1998’s Shakespeare in Love is often held up as the epitome of awards season schmaltz. On the verge of tears from the get-go, Paltrow trembled with emotion as she sobbed her way through a long list of collaborators and loved ones. The full-bore sentimentality of it left some viewers doubting her sincerity. Others simply felt sorry for Paltrow, who was clear unable to hold it together.
AFP/Getty
Worst Oscar speeches Sean Penn for Mystic River Sean Penn, picking up his first Best Actor award in 2004, opened with a joke about the missing Iraqi WMDs. The quip garnered unimpressed silence, with the audience remaining quiet as Penn proceeded to thank a long, scattershot list of collaborators. At least he remembered to credit Robin Wright, then his wife – a mention he neglected to give five years later when he won again for Milk.
Getty
Worst Oscar speeches Sam Smith for Spectre Sam Smith caused a stir when they accepted their award for Best Original Song “Writing’s On the Wall”, which they co-wrote with Jimmy Napes for the Bond flick in 2016. Smith, who has since announced their decision to use gender-neutral pronounces, later admitted they were drunk when they made the erroneous claim that “no openly gay man had ever won an Oscar” before. The crooner had misinterpreted a fact given to them by Sir Ian McKellen, who was referring specifically to the acting categories. In fact, the Best Song category alone features both Elton John and Stephen Sondheim as prior winners. Screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, who won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for Milk in 2009, quickly called Smith out on their blunder. The pop singer later apologised.
REUTERS
Worst Oscar speeches Anne Hathaway for Les Miserables Anne Hathaway’s Best Supporting Actress win in 2012 was seen as inevitable. However, in the run-up to the Oscars, the actor’s appeal began to wane thanks to her controversial comments on weight loss, and her admission that she had cried watching herself perform on screen. Accepting the award, Hathaway began by excitedly muttering “it came true” – a mawkish gesture that epigraphed a speech that many viewers found insincere and over-rehearsed.
AFP/Getty
Worst Oscar speeches Jack Palance for City Slickers Jack Palance was 73 years old when he accepted the Best Supporting Actor award in 1992. After remarking on the producers’ supposed concerns about his age, he dropped to the floor and started performing one-armed push-ups. While the crowd cheered, he looked ridiculous, and the bawdy jokes that followed did little to help. To his credit, Palance would keep acting for over a decade afterwards.
Youtube
Worst Oscar speeches Matthew McConaughey for Dallas Buyers Club Matthew McConaughey’s journey from middling rom-com star to Hollywood A-lister – dubbed “the Mcconaissance” – reached its apex in 2014 when the Dazed and Confused star collected the Best Actor award for his charismatic turn in Jean-Marc Vallée’s film. McConaughey began by thanking God, going on to talk about his “hero” – a person whom he must “chase.” Turns out, McConaughey was talking about himself in ten years’ time. Even dropping in his signature catchphrase “alright, alright, alright” wasn’t enough to tie up the strange and egotistical speech that left the audience baffled.
Getty
Worst Oscar speeches Roberto Benigni for Life is Beautifu Although English may not be Roberto Benigni’s first language, there’s no accounting for some of the expressions he used during his 1999 acceptance speech. Having beaten Hollywood megastar Tom Hanks, nominated for Saving Private Ryan, the eccentric Italian gave an animated speech, which included the strange line: “I would like to be Jupiter and kidnap everybody and lie down in the firmament making love to everybody.”
AFP/Getty Images
Worst Oscar speeches Melissa Leo for The Fighter Having built a respected career as a character actor, Melissa Leo finally gained mainstream recognition when she won Best Supporting Actress in 2010, at the age of 50. Leo had personally funded Hollywood trade ads for her Oscar campaign. And while they worked a treat, her speech didn’t follow suit. She started by flirting with a 94-year-old Kirk Douglas, before deploying both an accidental F-bomb and a gushing thank-you to the Academy. To top it off, Leo left the stage stooped over, using Douglas’ walking stick.
Getty
Worst Oscar speeches George C Scott for Patton In 1971, George C Scott became the first actor to ever refuse an Oscar. Writing to the Academy, Scott said he objected to the notion of actors being in competition with one another, calling the whole ceremony a “meat parade.” Producer Frank McCarthy, who accepted the award in Scott’s absence, seemingly missed the memo and gave a speech generously praising the Academy.
youtube
When asked if he thinks ABC could have handled the situation differently, he said: “I have no idea. I think people should be forgiven for their sins. Our life is so challenging. How do you ever make amends?”
Grammar added that, should Frasier return, he doesn't want the character to still be living in the same Seattle apartment and thinks the show should focus on his son, Frederick.
“He's the place where we can have a nugget of surprise. We don't know what kind of young man he was going to be. Now he's a 30-year-old, and I have some ideas about him that I think people would really enjoy,” Grammar revealed.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies