Trump responds to ABC cancelling Roseanne by comparing himself to Valerie Jarrett

The network cancelled the show due to a racist tweet from the lead actress

Donald Trump has responded to ABC cancelling the television show Roseanne over a racist tweet by star Roseanne Barr's by claiming that he did not receive an apology when the television network aired controversial statements about his presidency.

ABC apologised to Valerie Jarrett, a former Barack Obama administration official, over a tweet from star Roseanne Barr comparing Ms Jarrett - who is black - to an "ape". Mr Trump, seemingly comparing his situation to that of Ms Jarrett, tweeted: "Bob Iger of ABC called Valerie Jarrett to let her know that “ABC does not tolerate comments like those” made by Roseanne Barr. Gee, he never called President Donald J. Trump to apologise for the HORRIBLE statements made and said about me on ABC. Maybe I just didn’t get the call?"

The original message Barr tweeted said that if the Islamist political movement "muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby = vj." Within hours the network said in a statement: "Roseanne's Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show".

The original Roseanne ran from 1988 to 1997, featuring a blue-collar family, the Conners. The current Roseanne reboot was ABC's biggest hit of the year, drawing an average 18.7 million viewers.

The president ha revelled in the show's success, mentioning it several times after Barr's character was revealed as a supporter of the president.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told a briefing that Mr Trump's latest comments were not a defence of Barr's tweet.

“The president is simply calling out the media bias. No one is defending what she said,” Ms Sanders said, saying that much of the media had frequently shown it was against Me Trump.

On Tuesday, Ms Sanders said the president would likely not concern himself with the cancellation of the show because "we have a lot bigger things going on in the country right now".

Barr apologised for the tweet and blamed her late-night message on the sleep aid Ambien. “It was 2 in the morning and I was Ambien tweeting-it was memorial day too-i went 2 far & do not want it defended-it was egregious Indefensible,” she wrote in a message that has since been deleted. “I made a mistake I wish I hadn't but...don't defend it please.”

Ambien's maker, Sanofi, responded: “While all pharmaceutical treatments have side effects, racism is not a known side effect of any Sanofi medication”. barr later tweeted that she "blamed myself" for the message.

Ms Jarrett called Barr's tweet about her a "teaching moment" about racism in the US.

Some Barr supporters have said they believe she has been treated unfairly because of her politics. She responded, saying: “You guys make me feel like fighting back. I will examine all of my options carefully and get back to U.”