Roseanne Barr claims ‘God told me' to send 2018 racist tweet that derailed her career
Roseanne Barr is getting candid on the tweet that got her canceled from Hollywood.
The actress, 72, starred in the hit sitcom 'Roseanne' for 10 seasons from 1988 to 1997 before the show was rebooted in 2018.
The revival, however, was short-lived due to a racist tweet Barr sent out that year. Now, the 'Get Bruce' alum is doubling down, admitting she has no regrets.
6 Roseanne Barr at the 'Roseanne' Press Conference at the Four Seasons Hotel on March 23, 2018 in Beverly Hills, California.
WireImage
'The way I feel about it is that God told me to do what I did, and it was a nuclear bomb,' Barr told Variety in an interview published on Friday, June 6. 'The day of my tweet, over 2 million Americans Googled Valerie Jarrett and the Iran deal. And that was my intent. So, whatever.'
In 2018, Barr tweeted a picture of Jarrett next to Helena Bonham Carter and wrote, 'Muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj.'
6 Roseanne Barr on Instagram.
Instagram/Roseanne Barr
The comedian noted to the outlet that she feels she posted 'the perfect caption.'
'I was already having nightmares about never going back to that show ['Roseanne'], and God woke me up,' Barr recalled about sending off the tweet that night while also noting again that she was on a mixture of alcohol and Ambien.
'I had my laptop there in bed, as always,' Barr explained, 'and I opened it, and there was [an X post with] a picture of Valerie Jarrett next to Helena Bonham Carter in full makeup as Ari in 'Planet of the Apes,' and they looked like Xerox copies of each other, so I captioned it.'
Jarrett, 68, was born in Iran and helped facilitate the 2015 Iran nuclear deal under President Barack Obama's administration.
6 Roseanne Barr
Getty Images
Despite high first season ratings, the 'Roseanne' revival was canceled by ABC after Barr's tweet.
Channing Dungey, ABC's Entertainment president at the time, said the Emmy winner's words were 'abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values.'
Disney CEO Bob Iger said, 'There was only one thing to do here, and that was the right thing.'
However, Barr feels otherwise, sharing that her tweet was not racist and for others to assume it says more about them.
6 The TV sitcom 'Roseanne.'
Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images
'They were so racist that they thought my tweet said Black people look like monkeys when it was about 'Planet of the Apes,' which is a movie about fascism,' she told Variety. 'Rod Serling himself said it's about the Jews in Germany. It is not a movie about Black people, Bob.'
ABC then moved forward with the reboot but killed off Barr's character with a drug overdose and changed the title of the series to 'The Conners.'
The sitcom ran for seven seasons before wrapping up for good in April.
6 The sitcom 'Roseanne.'
Getty Images
'I felt very pissed off that they stole my rights and killed me,' Barr expressed. 'It was so stupid and shortsighted, and I don't know how they answer to their shareholders for canceling me before even one sponsor pulled out.'
The hit show also starred John Goodman (Dan Conner), Sara Gilbert (Darlene Conner), Laurie Metcalf (Jackie Harris), and Johnny Galecki (David Healy).
In May, Barr expressed how she felt the cancel culture mob came after her.
6 Roseanne Barr attends the Mr. Birchum Series Premiere on May 07, 2024 in Los Angeles, California.
Getty Images for DailyWire+
'They were waiting for me to slip up,' she alleged, confirming she was referring to the left-leaning executives at the network. Barr claimed ABC bosses were already on high alert about her support for Trump.
'They spied. They monitored everything I did,' alleged Barr. 'They wanted to censor me from the very beginning.'
She also charged, 'They hijacked that tweet and made out it said something that it didn't.'
'I'm not stupid. I would never refer to a black person as the product of an ape,' Barr continued.
Taking back her original apology, the comedian said, 'The worst mistake you can do is apologize to the left. Then they are on a crusade against you. Once you admit a mistake, they will keep on until you're dead.'
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