Roseanne Barr Screams She ‘Thought The B**ch Was White,’ Referencing Valerie Jarrett Tweet, Racism Claims

Controversial comedienne Roseanne Barr is back and addressing the tweet that got the reboot of her popular show, Roseanne, canceled. In a recent interview, which was uploaded to Barr’s YouTube page, Barr looks disheveled, with short blonde hair. She casually smokes a cigarette and talks about another video that had been “highly edited,” according to TMZ.

Then, Barr becomes agitated and screams, twice, that “I thought the b—h was white,” speaking about Valerie Jarrett, the senior advisor to President Barack Obama. In the tweet, Barr wrote that the “Muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj,” something that many took as a slight against not only Jarrett’s looks but her race, as Jarrett is African-American.

The tweet faced tremendous backlash, with many calling Barr racist and advocating for her show to be canceled. Wanda Sykes, who had been a producer on the show, announced that she planned to exit as a result of the tweet.

“I will not be returning to [‘Roseanne’],” Sykes tweeted.

According to Page Six, she tweeted an apology, stating she “made a mistake.”

“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-it was egregious Indefensible,” Barr wrote, according to Page Six.

Shortly after Barr’s tweet storm, ABC, the network that her show was on, announced they were canceling Roseanne, TMZ reported. In a statement about their decision, Channing Dungey, the network’s entertainment president, said, “Roseanne’s Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values.”

After the announcement of the show’s cancellation, actress Sara Gilbert, who played Darlene on the show, said “This is incredibly sad and difficult for all of us, as we’ve created a show that we believe in, are proud of, and that audiences love — one that is separate and apart from the opinions and words of one cast member.”

The reboot of Roseanne premiered in March to record-breaking viewership – 18 million viewers tuned in to watch the return of the Connor family. ABC had renewed the show for a second season after only a few episodes.

Jarrett responded to the tweet a few days later, according to CNN. While interviewing with MSNBC, Jarrett said she was unbothered by the tweet and said just that she worried about people who don’t have friends to caution them or come to their defense without letting them know what they did was wrong.

“I think we have to turn it into a teaching moment,” Jarrett said.