The aftermath of Roseanne Barr’s comments is still unfolding, dramatically, in the wake of the actress’ racist comment during a late night tweet. Roseanne Barr, 65, who is known for her crude sense of humor, crossed a line during a 2 AM tweet about top former aide to President Obama Valerie Jarrett, which read: “Muslim brotherhood and planet of the apes had a baby=vj.”
The racist comment sparked immediate internet outrage and the actress eventually deleted the comment, but the damage had already been done.
The comment made by Barr early Tuesday, May 29, went viral and the ABC network remained silent for many hours after. ABC network then made the announcement that they were pulling the plug on the hit television sitcom. ABC president Channing Dungey described the actress’ statements against Valerie Jarrett as “repugnant and inconsistent with our values.”
Writer and consulting producer Wanda Sykes was the first to announce her departure from the show and that she will not be working on the second season of “Roseanne.” The hit ABC television show was renewed immediately for a second season after over 20 million viewers tuned in for the pilot episode, and it already had a time slotted for the show next season.
ABC canceled the show indefinitely.
Roseanne Barr blames Ambien
Roseanne Barr apologized in a series of tweets blaming her insomnia and sleep aid Ambien on her racist comments. “Guys I did something unforgivable,” Barr began in a tweet, “so don’t defend me. It was 2 in the morning and I was Ambien tweeting.” In another tweet, Barr continued blaming Ambien saying this was not the first incident that she has done “weird stuff” while on the medication.
A spokeswoman for the North America region of Sanofi, maker of Ambien, took to Twitter in a statement which read, “While all pharmaceutical treatments have side effects, racism is not a known side effect.”
Barr apologized in a tweet issued to all Americans and Valerie Jarrett, claiming that she was only “joking.”
Not new to controversy
This is not the first time Roseanne Barr made a racist comment about a black woman’s appearance.
According to VOX, on December 22, 2013, Barr went on a Twitter tirade about former United States National Security Advisor Susan Rice, describing her as “a man with big swinging ape balls.”
The actress also has paraded her support for President Donald Trump in a series of controversial tweets. Roseanne Barr has been very forthcoming about conspiracy theories regarding “pizzagate,” Hillary Clinton leading a pedophile ring, MK-Ultra Mind Control, and former President Obama not being a born US citizen.
The actress’ former husband, Tom Arnold who worked with Barr on the show previously, told Anderson Cooper that he, “had a feeling this was going to happen.” He furthered his statement to Cooper claiming that Barr’s affiliation with Donald Trump, and her belief in conspiracy theories, were all part of his former wife’s downfall.
Donald Trump breaks silence and responds to controversy
Donald Trump did not hold anything back when he responded to the controversy that landed Roseanne Barr in hot water. Donald Trump released a statement on Twitter that was directed at the ABC network stating that ABC canceled “Roseanne,” because the network does not tolerate racist comments, but no one from ABC ever apologized to Trump about the statements they made about the president.
Donald Trump found a way to make the situation, dealing with Roseanne Barr's racist comments, about him. In early March, Donald Trump took full credit for the success of the premiere of “Roseanne.”