A once reigning comedy queen, Roseanne Barr, 69, became the subject of controversy back in 2018 after tweeting what many deemed a racist attack on Valerie Jarrett, former senior advisor to U.S. President Barack Obama. In the tweet, Barr likened Jarrett to an inappropriate combination, writing that the businesswoman was the product if the “muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby.” This resulted in the revival of her sitcom Roseanne being cancelled by ABC.
So what does Barr think of it all now? The actress spoke out about her experience in the new Reelz documentary Roseanne: Kicked Out of Hollywood, which aired over the weekend. “I shoulda not did it, but by God, I was really p—d that day,” Barr said during the documentary, blaming her tweet targeting Jarrett on Ambien usage. “And I did something I wouldn’t do if I hadn’t been on that Ambien. It makes you do a lot of crazy s—t.”
Back in 2018, Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger agreed with ABC’s decision to cancel Roseanne, saying, “You can’t debate what is morally right.” In the doc, Barr claims that she wasn’t ever able to fully apologize on-air. “When they called me up they were like, ‘What possible excuse have you got for why you did this? Why you did such an egregious, unforgivable thing?” she said. “And I said, ‘I have no excuse. The only thing is, I thought she was White. And they said nothing back,” she continued. “And then I said, ‘Let me go on The View tomorrow and explain it and apologize. I made a mistake.'” She also claimed that ABC had issues with many of her other tweets, including retweeting conspiracy theories. “Any tweet that was not ‘I love Hillary Clinton,’ I got a call for,” she said.
TONIGHT Roseanne The Queen of Controversy 8PM ET/PT#roseannebarr #roseanne #comedy #comedian #CancelCulture #legend #icon #comic #comedyspecial #sitcom #tvseries #REELZ #RealStories #RealScandal pic.twitter.com/4N7YWq2JEE
— REELZ (@ReelzChannel) April 24, 2022
Rather than acknowledging and taking accountability for her actions, Barr then went on a rant about ABC’s decision, dubbing it “witch-burning.” “[The firing was due to] intellectual witch-burning,” she added, “And arrogance and ignorance. All of the press of the United States, and the world and how they interpreted my tweet without any knowledge of the fact that I was sending it to a journalist in Iran about what was happening to the people in Iran. We were under such terrible censorship and it’s just terrible and frightening.”
While Barr never fully seemed to understand the gravity of her words in the tweet, she also stressed that she was upset by being called a “racist,” in the film. “I was called a racist […] It was politically expedient for them to s—t on my name.” Roseanne: Kicked Out of Hollywood also showed Barr discussing the multiple times she was warned to either stop tweeting offensive content or get off the app, both of which she refused to do.
“Everyone was begging me to give up my Twitter. Everyone,” she recalled. “My kids were trying to lock me out, but I wouldn’t because it’s like I just couldn’t.” She continued, “I’m a g—m American and I’m not going to do it,” she explained. “I’m a comic. I’m a bad girl. I’m too rock and roll. I’m going to say f—k it and f—k you until I take my last breath.”
