Roseanne Barr breaks down in first interview since being fired: 'I have lost everything'

'I horribly regret it. I’ve lost everything. And I regretted it before I lost everything'

Roseanne Barr broke down in tears in her first interview since being fired from her ABC sitcom, saying that she “lost everything” as a result of her racist tweet.

Appearing on Rabbi Shmuley Boteach’s podcast, which was recorded just days after the show was cancelled, Barr said of the racist tweet that got her fired: ”I horribly regret it. I’ve lost everything.”

“And I regretted it before I lost everything and I said to God, ‘I am willing to accept whatever consequences this brings, because I know I’ve done wrong. I’m willing to accept what the consequences are.’ And I do. And I have.”

The revival of Roseanne, which had returned to TV following its cancellation in 1997, was cancelled by the network after Barr fired off a racist tweet comparing Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett to a character from Planet of the Apes and linking her to the Islamist organisation Muslim Brotherhood.

Barr wrote, “Muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj”, in response to a tweet claiming Jarrett helped with cover-ups during the Obama administration.

Barr deleted the tweet and later apologised for “making a bad joke about her politics and her looks”. She said: “I should have known better. Forgive me – my joke was in bad taste.” However, only 11 hours after her apology, Barr was back to sharing conspiracy theories about Jarrett.

“I have black children in my family,” Barr said about the accusations of racism, before breaking down in tears. “I can’t...I can’t let ’em say these things about that, after 30 years of my putting my family and my health and my livelihood at risk to stand up for people.”

“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. And if people think that I did that it just kills me. I didn’t do that, although they think I did.”

Barr claimed that she did not know Jarrett was black, while also reiterating her earlier defence that she had taken Ambien before writing the tweet.

At the time, she told fans: “Guys I did something unforgiveable so do not defend me. It was 2 in the morning and I was ambien tweeting... went 2 far & do not want it defended. Not giving excuses for what I did (tweeted) but I’ve done weird stuff while on ambien”.

She further stated on the podcast: “You know, sometimes you reread your tweets, especially on Memorial weekend at 2 a.m. on Ambien. And that’s no excuse, but that is what was real. There’s no excuse. I don’t excuse it. But it’s explanation. I was impaired, you know.”

The makers of Ambien had responded to Barr’s initial claims with: “While all pharmaceutical treatments have side effects, racism is not a known side effect of any Sanofi medication”.

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