5 Sitcom Stars Who Were Fired for Saying Stupid Stuff

1 Roseanne Barr

The highly rated return of Roseanne was a feel-good comeback story until its lead comedian took to Twitter one night and burned it all to the ground. All it took was a tweet in which Roseanne compared Valerie Jarrett, a Black senior adviser to Barack Obama, to “if muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby.”

ABC immediately canceled the show, although it was later resurrected without Barr as The Conners. That didn’t sit well with Barr, who accused former costar Sara Gilbert of stabbing her in the back after she tweeted, “This is incredibly sad and difficult for all of us, as we’ve created a show that we believe in, are proud of, and that audiences love — one that is separate and apart from the opinions and words of one cast member.” 

2 Chevy Chase

Chase’s list of sins against Community are well documented, but the final straw appeared to come in Season Four when Chase griped about his unsatisfactory storyline in the “Advanced Documentary Filmmaking” episode. Complaining is one thing, throwing around racial slurs — and not for the first time — is another. The tantrum resulted in Chase and the network “mutually agreeing” (sure) that the actor should take a hike.

Chase claims he could have cared less. "I honestly felt the show wasn’t funny enough for me, ultimately,” he told Marc Maron. “I felt a little bit constrained. Everybody had their bits, and I thought they were all good. It just wasn’t hard hitting enough for me.”

3 Jeff Garlin

What caused producers to kill off Garlin’s character on The Goldbergs? His habit of claiming that his vagina hurt and other junior-high wisecracks about grandma cocks led to a meeting with HR after costars and crew complained. Garlin, of course, didn’t take it seriously.

“I get called in, and they go, ‘Look, you can’t do this.’ And I go, ‘Oh yes, I can.’ They go, ‘You might get fired.’ I go, ‘I'd love to be fired and have it hit the papers: Cover of TMZ: ‘Jeff Garlin Fired Because His Vagina Hurts.’”

Congrats, Garlin, you made your wish come true.

4 Jay Thomas

Remember Thomas? He played Eddie, Carla’s husband on Cheers. That was a helluva gig for the little-known actor, one that he promptly flushed down the toilet during an appearance on a call-in radio show. 

One listener phoned in with an innocent question: What’s it like working on Cheers? 

“It's brutal,” Thomas replied. “I have to kiss Rhea Perlman.”

Not anymore, he didn’t. “That was it. He insulted Rhea, which meant he insulted all of us,” Cheers co-creator James Burrows explained in his book Directed by James Burrows. “He crossed the family. Jay was fired unceremoniously. Since he was no longer on the show, Eddie also had to go. In our world, you don’t wind up sleeping with the fishes; you die a violent yet comedic death.”

The character was a former goalie for the Boston Bruins who now skated as a penguin in an ice show. He got killed off by a Zamboni machine.

5 Charlie Sheen

“After careful consideration, Warner Bros. Television has terminated Charlie Sheen's services from Two and a Half Men effective immediately,” read the press release in 2011. 

The cause for firing: Sheen’s big mouth couldn’t stop spewing what his drug-addled brain was thinking. He publicly called producer Chuck Lorre a “clown” and “a stupid, stupid little man.” He bragged about his substance abuse: “The last time I took drugs, I probably took more than anyone could survive.” Tiger blood, warlock claims — Sheen was the tabloid gift that kept giving. 

After Sheen was canned, he continued to burn bridges. “This is very good news,” he told TMZ. “They continue to be in breach, like so many whales. It is a big day of gladness at the Sober Valley Lodge because now I can take all of the bazillions, never have to look at whatshiscock again and I never have to put on those silly shirts for as long as this warlock exists in the terrestrial dimension.”