Roseanne Barr has broken her silence following the cancellation of her ABC revival Roseanne. The show was axed on Tuesday, May 29, shortly after the comedian’s racist tweet against former Obama White House aide Valerie Jarrett.
“Don’t feel sorry for me, guys!!-I just want to apologize to the hundreds of people,and wonderful writers (all liberal) and talented actors who lost their jobs on my show due to my stupid tweet. I will be on Joe Rogan’s podcast Friday,” Barr, 65, tweeted.
“Guys I did something unforgiveable so do not defend me. It was 2 in the morning and I was ambien tweeting-it was memorial day too-i went 2 far & do not want it defended-it was egregious Indefensible [sic]. I made a mistake I wish I hadn’t but…don’t defend it please,” she continued. “hey guys, don’t defend me, it’s sweet of you 2 try, but…losing my show is 0 compared 2 being labelled [sic] a racist over one tweet-that I regret even more.”
Directing a now-deleted tweet at Jarrett, she added: “@ValerieJarrett I want to apologize to you. I am very sorry to have hurt you. I hope you can accept this sincere apology!”
Additionally, Barr went on to retweet several comments supporting her as fans used the hashtag #IStandWithRoseanne. Some of the comments retweeted included a commenter asking for ABC to also fire The View’s Joy Behar. ““I’m calling on @ABCNetwork @Disney to uphold their “standards” by firing [Joy Behar] for calling Christians mentally ill. You can’t treat @therealroseanne one way because she supports [Donald Trump] & allow Joy Behar to remain employed. #BoycottABC #StandWithRoseanne #Roseanne,” the tweet read.
The major backlash began when Barr tweeted that Jarrett was if “Muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby.” ABC Entertainment president Channing Dungey later announced in a statement, “Roseanne’s Twitter is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel our show.”
Several of Barr’s costars reacted to the news – including Michael Fishman and Emma Kenney. Sara Gilbert initially tweeted about Barr’s controversial tweets.
“Roseanne’s recent comments about Valerie Jarrett, and so much more, are abhorrent and do not reflect the beliefs of our cast and crew or anyone associated with our show. I am disappointed in her actions to say the least,” the Talk cohost wrote. “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.” (Barr retweeted Gilbert’s comments.)
Fellow leads John Goodman and Laurie Metcalf have yet to speak out about the scandal.
Amid the controversy, Barr has been fired as a client by ICM Partners and reruns of the original series, which ran from 1988 to 1997, were pulled from Paramount Network, TV Land and CMT. On Tuesday night, a rerun of The Middle ran on ABC instead of Roseanne, which was initially scheduled to air.
