Hindustan Times (Patna) - Hindustan Times (Patna) - Live
‘It was a mistake, but cost me my life’s work’
Roseanne Barr apologises for her tweet on former Prez Obama’s adviser, but maintains it was not racist
Actor-comedian Roseanne Barr apologised for her controversial Twitter comment that caused the cancellation of her comedy show Roseanne, but insisting at the same time that she had been misunderstood and said the mistake “cost me everything.”
In an hour-long TV interview, her first since comparing a former AfricanAmerican Obama administration official to an ape, that her May tweet was political in nature, not racist. “I was so sad that people thought it was racist,” Barr told host Sean Hannity, adding that the tweet referencing Valerie Jarrett — “muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby = vj” — was a bid to seek accountability for the 2015 international agreement limiting Iran’s nuclear program.
Barr did not clarify what she believed was Jarrett’s involvement in the agreement. “I made a mistake, obviously. It cost me everything, my life’s work. And I paid the price for it. But no, I did not know she (Jarrett) was black,” she said. Addressing Jarrett directly, Barr proceeded to say, “I’m sorry you feel harmed and hurt because I never meant that.”
“I have apologised a lot. I feel that I have apologised and explained and asked for forgiveness and made recompense,” Barr said on Thursday, adding that she has made donations to “several African-American things.”
Barr’s tweet caused a storm of outrage and the concerned network swiftly cancelled the revival of her popular comedy series about a working-class American family in the era of President of the US Donald Trump, who, she went on to assert in the interview, “is not a racist”, and that the same goes for her and other people who voted for him.
She said she had not tried to contact Jarrett to apologize personally because she feared being screamed at on the phone. Jarrett said on Wednesday that she did not intend to watch Barr’s interview.
The interview also covered the comedian’s mental health and her Jewish upbringing. Early in the interview, Barr had said, “Anybody who is in any kind of position of power deserves to have a joke about them, and if they can’t laugh at themselves that means something.”