Hours after her ABC sitcom was put on the chopping block, Roseanne Barr returned from her short-lived Twitter hiatus to issue a direct apology to Valerie Jarrett for a racist tweet the comedian claims was Ambien-induced.
She also feigned ignorance about Jarrett’s ethnicity, blasted some of her co-stars, expressed remorse for President Trump, continue to spin debunked conspiracies and doled out insults during the screed, which lasted for about eight hours.
Barr, 65, tagged Jarrett in a tweet early Wednesday morning that appealed directly to the former Obama senior adviser.
“I don’t know if you saw it, but I wanted to apologize to you for hurting and upsetting you with an insensitive and tasteless tweet,” Barr wrote 20 minutes after sharing a similar, shorter tweet. “I am truly sorry-my whole life has been about fighting racism. I made a terrible mistake (that) caused hundreds of people to lose their jobs. So sorry!”
Barr later explained that she believed Jarrett – who is black – was actually “Jewish and Persian.”
“Ignorant of me for sure, but … I did,” she wrote.
“I mistakenly thought she was white.”
She urged her fans not to boycott ABC and not to defend her, as “losing my show is zero compared to being labeled a racist over one tweet – that I regret even more.”
But she later declined to hold back against two castmates who spoke out against her, TV daughter Sara Gilbert (Darlene on the show) and Michael Fishman, who played son D.J.
In response to Gilbert – who wrote Tuesday that Barr’s tweets “do not reflect the beliefs of our cast and crew or anyone associated with our show” – Barr responded, “Wow! unreal.”
To Fishman’s statement condemning Barr’s tweets, Roseanne sniped, “i created the platform for that inclusivity and you know it.ME . You throw me under the bus. nice!”
She also responded to a tweet about consulting producer Wanda Sykes leaving the show. Sykes announced her departure on Twitter ahead of “Roseanne” being canceled.
“Her tweet made ABC very nervous and they cancelled the show,” Barr wrote.
Despite claiming she’d take some time off Twitter, Barr kept the stream of tweets coming into the early morning, again calling her comments indefensible before attempting to defend them.
“Guys I did something unforgivable so do not defend me,” she wrote. “It was 2 in the morning and I was Ambien tweeting. It was Memorial Day, too. I went too far and do not want it defended – it was egregious indefensible. I made a mistake I wish I hadn’t but…don’t defend it please. Thank you.”
Placing the blame on Ambien drew further backlash on social media from users who joked that they’d taken the sleep aid plenty of times, and had yet to pen a racist tweet because of it.
“Can’t fall asleep. Gunna take an ambien and see if I end up tweeting anything racist,” actress Meredith Salenger wrote. “18 minutes in… still love everyone. No judgement yet.”
Even Barr’s ex-husband Tom Arnold hopped on the bandwagon, joking on Twitter that he was on Ambien from 1990 to 1994, the years he and Barr were married.
The actress also issued a broader statement apologizing again to Jarrett, and to the “hundreds of hardworking people” who lost their jobs as a result of her show’s cancelation.
Jarrett acknowledged the tweets as a “teaching moment” Tuesday in a pre-taped town hall meeting on MSNBC.
Barr’s comedic empire crumbled Tuesday after she tweeted that Jarrett was the product of a “Muslim brotherhood and Planet of the Apes,” while billionaire investor George Soros was “a Nazi.”
The tweets drew instant backlash, and ABC promptly canceled her rebooted “Roseanne,” claiming Barr’s comments were “abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent” with the network’s values.
The controversial comedian declared she’d be taking a break from Twitter shortly after her show got the ax, but logged back on hours later to retweet supportive fans and comment on Jarrett’s background — again.
“I thought she was saudi,” Barr mused, in response to a tweet suggesting Jarrett was Hispanic.
One of the many retweets Barr shared featured a fake photo of Whoopi Goldberg donning a T-shirt with a graphic image of Donald Trump shooting himself on the front.
“Out of curiosity @ABC & @Disney this is okay with you? Hypocrisy on the Left is sickening! Your Pathetic! #BoycottABC #IStandWithRoseanne,” read the tweet, which has since been removed from Barr’s profile.
With NICOLE HENSLEY
