Roseanne Barr writes 'I was Ambien tweeting,' Trump says ABC should apologize to him for past comments

KGO logo
Wednesday, May 30, 2018
Roseanne Barr writes 'I was Ambien tweeting,' Trump says ABC should apologize to him for past comments
Joe Torres reports on Roseanne Barr's latest comments.

President Donald Trump has tweeted his thoughts after the Roseanne reboot was cancelled by ABC. The president tweeted that Disney CEO Bob Iger should apologize to Trump for past comments about him made on ABC because Iger had apologized to Valerie Jarrett, the subject of Roseanne Barr's racist tweet.

Barr took to Twitter overnight to apologize again and say that she sent out her racist tweet after taking a sedative. She also lashed out at co-stars, saying they threw her under the bus.

In a tweet on Wednesday, she maintained that she does not consider herself a racist.

The racist tweet that led to the cancellation of her show suggested that former Obama White House adviser Jarrett was a product of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Planet of the Apes: "Muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj."

After the tweet went viral, Barr deleted it and apologized to Jarrett "and to all Americans." She also said she was leaving Twitter.

Since then, Barr has tweeted many apologies, but she has also started to fight back. In one tweet she calls her own words indefensible and blames Ambien for the initial tweet.

"guys I did something unforgiveable so do not defend me. It was 2 in the morning and I was ambien tweeting-it was memorial day too-i went 2 far & do not want it defended," she wrote.

Barr later wrote that "i blamed myself. not ambien."

Sanofi, the makers of Ambien, responded to say that "racism is not a known side effect."

The initial tweet outraged fans and as well as her own castmates. After co-stars Sara Gilbert and Michael Fishman tweeted their own condemnation of the tweets, Roseanne fired back.

Wednesday morning Barr seemed to defend Gilbert, saying she was "distancing herself" from Barr because "she has to," adding that she forgives Gilbert.

Overnight Barr retweeted messages of support from fans but also asked them not to defend her comment.

She also compared the response to President Donald Trump's experiences.

Meanwhile the subject of the tweet, Valerie Jarrett, responded to the controversy on MSNBC.

"Bob Iger, who is the CEO of Disney, called me before the announcement, he apologized, he said he had zero tolerance for that sort of racist, bigoted comment and he wanted me to know before he made it public that he was cancelling this show and so I appreciate that they did that so swiftly," Jarrett said.

Barr also made another apology late Tuesday.

"Don't feel sorry for me, guys!! I just want to apologize to the hundreds of people, and wonderful writers (all liberal) and talented actors who lost their jobs on my show due to my stupid tweet."

Streaming service Hulu and other cable networks have removed Roseanne reruns, and Barr was also dropped by her talent agency.

The Walt Disney Company is the parent company of ABC and this station.

Copyright © 2024 KGO-TV. All Rights Reserved.