Roseanne Barr‘s scheduled appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast has been canceled. The podcast was set to be the controversial comedian’s first interview after her racist tweet scandal and the subsequent Roseanne reboot cancellation.
“The Roseanne podcast is not happening today. She’s not doing well and doesn’t want to travel, and she’s gone radio silent on me, so I’m just going to step away,” host Joe Rogan tweeted on Friday, June 1. “The whole thing has been pretty brutal on her, and I hope she can find some peace.”
Barr, 65, made headlines on Tuesday, May 29, after she said Barack Obama’s former White House aide Valerie Jarrett looked like the “Muslim brotherhood” and the movie Planet of the Apes “had a baby.” Hours later, ABC announced that Roseanne would not be returning for season 11 (also known as season 2 of the revival.)
While Barr apologized for her “bad joke” on Tuesday, she insisted on Wednesday, May 30, that her tweet was not racist and blamed her comments on “Ambien tweeting.” (The sleep aid drug maker later responded, tweeting, “racism is not a known side effect of any Sanofi medication.”)
The sitcom star confirmed her appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience on Wednesday. “no it wasn’t racist-ill talk about it on joe rogan friday,” she wrote to a Twitter user.
After news of the cancellation broke, Barr told fans on Thursday, May 31, that she “begged” the president of Disney-ABC Television Group, Ben Sherwood, and the network to let her “apologize” and “make amends” in since-deleted tweets. “I told them I was willing to do anything & asked 4 help in making things right. I’d worked doing publicity 4 them 4 free for weeks, traveling, thru bronchitis. I begged 4 ppls jobs.”
Barr, who has tweeted that she was leaving the social media platform before, also claimed on Thursday that she was “signing off for a while.”
“I end by offering everyone involved one more apology and prayers for healing of our divided nation,” she tweeted. “Tomorrow is Shabbat and I will continue to pray that everything for everyone goes forward & ends well for all. signing off twitter for a while. love u guys!”
