Roseanne Barr Posts Bizarre, Unhinged Apology for Racist Tweet: 'I Thought the Bitch Was White'
Roseanne Barr is defending herself once again for the controversial Valerie Jarrett tweet that got her Roseanne reboot cancelled
Roseanne Barr is defending herself once again for the controversial Valerie Jarrett tweet that got her Roseanne reboot cancelled.
Late Thursday, a NSFW video of the 65-year-old comedian was posted to her official YouTube page.
In the short clip, Barr looks disordered and distressed as she smokes a cigarette while arguing with a male producer about the editing of a previous video — one that was apparently cut together from multiple shoots and showed Roseanne wearing different outfits.
Soon, the agitated star brings up the since-deleted tweet in which she likened Jarrett, a black former advisor to Barack Obama, to an “ape.”
“I’m trying to talk about Iran! I’m trying to talk about Valerie Jarrett about the Iran deal. That’s what my tweet was about,” Barr screamed.
“I thought the bitch was white!” she said, getting even louder. “Goddamnit, I thought the bitch was white. F—!”
Warning: Video contains explicit language.
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The video was a far cry from the other comments Barr has made about the tweet in the wake of the backlash. She first appeared repentant, claiming that she didn’t know Jarrett is black and that she was on Ambien while tweeting.
Barr also defended herself from accusations of racism. “I’m not a racist, I never was & I never will be,” she tweeted in May. “One stupid joke in a lifetime of fighting 4 civil rights 4 all minorities, against networks, studios, at the expense of my nervous system/family/wealth will NEVER b taken from me.”
She later explained that her tweet — which described Jarrett as a cross between the Muslim Brotherhood and Planet of the Apes — was actually commentary on anti-Semitism.
“Rod Serling wrote Planet of The Apes. It was about anti-semitism,” Barr tweeted. “That is what my tweet referred to – the anti semitism of the Iran deal. Low IQ ppl can think whatever they want.”
Also in June, Barr gave a tearful interview on Rabbi Shmuley Boteach’s podcast.
“I have to face that it hurt people,” she said. “When you hurt people even unwillingly there’s no excuse. I don’t want to run off and blather on with excuses. But I apologize to anyone who thought, or felt offended and who thought that I meant something that I, in fact, did not mean. It was my own ignorance, and there’s no excuse for that ignorance.”
“I definitely feel remorse,” she continued. “I’ve lost everything. And I regretted it before I lost everything.”
Barr has since said she “won’t be doing any TV interviews” and will instead be filming and posting videos to her YouTube channel.
RELATED: Everything to Know about Valerie Jarrett, the Woman at the Center of Roseanne Barr’s Racist Tweets
Three weeks later, the network greenlit a Roseanne spinoff without Barr but with John Goodman, Laurie Metcalf, Sara Gilbert, Lecy Goranson and Michael Fishman returning.
The 10-episode, straight-to-series order with the working title, The Conners, will follow “the Conner family who, after a sudden turn of events, are forced to face the daily struggles of life in Lanford in a way they never have before.”
The synopsis continued, “This iconic family – Dan, Jackie, Darlene, Becky and D.J. – grapples with parenthood, dating, an unexpected pregnancy, financial pressures, aging and in-laws in working-class America. Through it all, the fights, the coupon cutting, the hand-me-downs, the breakdowns – with love, humor and perseverance, the family prevails.”
RELATED VIDEO: ABC Announces Roseanne Spinoff Without Roseanne Barr 3 Weeks After Revival’s Cancellation
Meanwhile, Jarrett has said that ABC made the right call in canceling the show and hoped the controversy lead to more dialogue on the reality of racism.
“First of all, I think we have to turn it into a teaching moment. I’m fine,” she explained during a town hall on MSNBC called “Everyday Racism in America.”
“I’m worried about all the people out there who don’t have a circle of friends and followers coming to their defense,” Jarrett added.
The longtime Obama friend added that Bob Iger — the chief executive officer of Disney, which owns ABC — called her ahead of the cancellation announcement to apologize.
“He wanted me to know before he made it public that he was canceling the show,” Jarrett said, adding that Iger told her there would be zero tolerance for those types of comments.