Roseanne Barr Apologizes To George Soros On Twitter
Roseanne Barr is apologizing for calling George Soros a Nazi on Twitter weeks after her ABC sitcom was cancelled due to insensitive racial remarks made on the social media platform.
Barr, the 65-year-old comedian, is backtracking on her statements after accusing Soros, the investment tycoon and philanthropist who fled Hungary when it was invaded by Nazi’s in the 1940s, of selling out his fellow Jewish people.
“I apologize sincerely to @georgesoros. His family was persecuted by the Nazis and survived the Holocaust only because of the strength and resourcefulness of his father,” she tweeted Monday. “Learn more of the truth about this at [Open Society Foundations].”
Soros, whose organization has donated large sums of money to causes like Black Lives Matter, became the target of Barr during a Twitter exchange with former president and presidential nominee Bill and Hillary Clinton’s daughter, Chelsea Clinton. After Barr mistakenly referred to Chelsea’s investment banker husband Marc Mezvinsky as Soros’ nephew, the comedian received correction on Twitter.
While Chelsea lauded the work of Soros’ non-profit organization, Open Society Foundations, she called Barr out and set the record straight. Barr responded by calling Soros, “a Nazi who turned in his fellow Jews to be murdered in German concentration camps and stole their wealth,” in her sarcastic apology to Clinton.
Sorry to have tweeted incorrect info about you!I Please forgive me! By the way, George Soros is a nazi who turned in his fellow Jews 2 be murdered in German concentration camps & stole their wealth-were you aware of that? But, we all make mistakes, right Chelsea?
— Roseanne Barr (@therealroseanne) May 29, 2018
Weeks after her May 29 tweet, Barr is issuing an official apology that comes on the heels of a similar controversial incident. Last month, ABC decided to cancel the reboot of Roseanne when Barr made a racist tweet about Valerie Jarrett, a senior advisor for former President Barack Obama.
The comedian tweeted about Jarrett, a black woman born in Iran, claiming she looked like the “muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby.”
Wanda Sykes, a consulting producer on the show, the series’ original actor Michael Fisherman and actress Emma Kenney were a few of the many who spoke out against against Barr’s statements by announcing that they would quit the production on social media.
After she received backlash, Barr took to Twitter to apologize to Jarrett and “all Americans.” She admitted that her joke about Jarrett’s physical appearance was in bad taste. While the reboot of her show debuted with record ratings, her talent agency ICM Partners told CNBC that they would drop her as a client following her remarks.
The sitcom reboot, which made it’s first run in the 80s and 90s, reportedly pulled in more than 18 million viewers for its premiere last March. Still, that did not stop ABC Entertainment President Channing Dungey from pulling the plug on the series last month.
“Roseanne’s Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show,” Dungey told Fox News.
