‘Roseanne’ Criticized for ‘Reductive and Belittling’ Joke About Diverse Shows

This week’s episode of “Roseanne” has been criticized for an off-color joke about shows with diverse casts, with “Bob’s Burgers” writer Kelvin Yu calling the gag “reductive and belittling.” The bit in question finds Roseanne (Roseanne Barr) and Dan (John Goodman) waking up after falling asleep while watching TV sometime between “‘Wheel’ to Kimmel,” both of which also air on ABC.“We missed all the shows about black and Asian families,” says Dan, an apparent reference to fellow ABC sitcoms “Fresh Off the Boat” and “Black-ish-2014-movie-posters/”>Black-ish,” prompting Roseanne to respond, “They’re just like us.

There, now you’re all caught up.”“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,” Yu wrote on Twitter.

“But the real kicker is when Roseanne says: ‘They’re just like us.

There, now you’re all caught up.

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