Roseanne Barr broke down while apologizing during a new podcast interview posted on Saturday, June 23, after being asked about her racist tweet that led to the cancellation of her hit show, Roseanne.
While speaking to host Rabbi Shmuley, the 65-year-old actress showed remorse when reflecting on her social media message about former Barack Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett.
“God, it’s really hard to say all of this,” Barr began her lengthy explanation. “I didn’t mean what they think I meant, and that’s what’s so painful. But I have to face that this hurt people — and when you hurt people, even unwittingly, there’s no excuse, so I don’t want to blabber off on excuses. I apologize to anyone who thought or felt offended and thought that I meant something that I, in fact, did not mean to my own ignorance.”
While speaking with Shmuley, Barr added that “I definitely feel remorse,” before breaking down in tears.
“I’m a lot of things. I’m a loudmouth and all that stuff, but I’m not stupid, for God’s sake, and I never would have wittingly called any black person … say they are a monkey. I never would do that! And I didn’t do that,” she continued, noting that she has black people in her family.
“And if people think that I did that, it just kills me. I didn’t do that, although they think I did. And if they do think that I am so sorry that I — ya know — it was so unclear and stupid. I’m very sorry but I don’t think that, I never would do that.”
Barr revealed once again that the tweet was made at 2 a.m while she was on ambien, saying “that’s no excuse, but that it what was real,” noting she was “impaired.”
“I horribly regret it,” she continued. “I lost everything.” The comedian later added that she doesn’t “agree with [Jarrett’s] policies,” and added that “I thought she was white. I did not know she was a black woman.”
Her apology comes after she was fired by ABC on May 29, hours after she referred to Jarrett as the child of “Muslim brotherhood” and “Planet of the Apes.”
The network immediately canceled the reboot of her hit ’90s sitcom, which had premiered in March to record ratings. ABC than announced on Wednesday, June 10, that a spinoff called The Conners starring the original cast — minus Barr — would be coming in the fall.