ABC Entertainment President Channing Dungey, who fired Roseanne Barr for a tweet that was criticized as being racist, is stepping down.
“This job has been the highlight of my career,” Dungey said in a statement obtained by Variety.
“While I’ve loved every moment, and knew I could call ABC home for many years to come, I’m excited to tackle new challenges,” she added without specifying her plans after her departure.
Under Dungey, both as president and in her previous job as head of ABC’s drama development, the network became the home of “Scandal,” “How to Get Away With Murder,” and other multiethnic shows from powerhouse African-American producer Shonda Rhimes.
But Rhimes, whose shows are on ABC’s Thursday prime-time schedule, and another prominent producer, Kenya Barris of the network’s sitcom “black-ish,” have both jumped ship for more lucrative streaming deals.
Karey Burke—the executive vice president and head of programming at Freeform—has been appointed as the new president for ABC Entertainment.
Dungey’s departure comes amid preparations for a massive overhaul in the Walt Disney Company related to the pending acquisition of Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Variety reported.
Dungey is still listed as the president of ABC entertainment on the company’s website. Dungey will remain as president for a transition period as Burke takes over.
“I’m grateful to Channing for her significant contributions and unwavering dedication to the success of ABC over the past 14 years,” Disney’s Chief Executive Bob Iger said in a statement.
He added: “I’ve thoroughly enjoyed having the opportunity to work with and mentor Channing; her curiosity, passion, and creativity will ensure she is successful in whatever path she chooses going forward.”
The Cancellation of ‘Roseanne’
Dungey, the first African-American programming chief for a major broadcast network, was named for the top job in February 2016.
She made news headlines in May for her quick action in canning Barr from the revived namesake show “Roseanne” after the actress-comedian posted a controversial tweet about former Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett in which she wrote, “Muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj [Valerie Jarrett].”
Barr apologized that the tweet had been made in bad taste, but the show, which had been an immediate success for ABC, was revamped without her and debuted in the fall of 2018 as “The Conners.”
“Roseanne’s Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant, and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show,” the company said in a statement.
The debut airing of “The Conners” delivered 10.5 million viewers and a 2.3 rating among adults 18-49—55 percent down from the premiere of “Roseanne” in the Spring of 2017.
When “Roseanne” returned in March 2017, the show had 18.2 million viewers and a 5.1 rating from the 18-49 demographic. The series finale concluded with 10.3 million viewers and a 2.4 rating in May 2018, the Entertainment Weekly reported.
ABC executives reportedly regretted firing Barr and were worried “The Conners” wouldn’t perform as well as “Roseanne.”
“We didn’t think it through properly. What Roseanne did was wrong but we shouldn’t have rushed to fire her. It was almost a knee-jerk reaction by Ben [Sherwood] and Channing [Dungey] who should have launched an investigation,” one senior executive told Daily Mail.
The Associated Press and Jack Phillips from the Epoch Times contributed to the report.
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