If this is Roseanne Barr’s attempt to smooth things over with Valerie Jarrett, it doesn’t seem to be working.
Nearly two months after ABC canceled the reboot of Roseanne following a last-straw tweet from Barr in which she compared the former Obama adviser to a cross between the Muslim Brotherhood and Planet of the Apes, the comedian posted a video to her YouTube channel Thursday night in which she reiterated her primary excuse for what was roundly condemned as a racist message.
In the video, a disheveled Barr smokes a cigarette as an off-screen voice tries to coach her as if she is giving a presidential address. Instead of listening to him, she starts screaming, “I’m trying to talk about Iran! I’m trying to talk about Valerie Jarrett wrote the Iran deal, that’s what my tweet was about.”
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Then, she gets even more agitating, yelling, “I thought the bitch was white! Goddamnit, I thought the bitch was white! Fuck!”
The off-screen voice can be heard laughing at what is apparently Barr’s latest attempt at humor? It’s the same excuse she used in the days following her show’s cancelation, retweeting racist memes from followers that attempted to make similar points. Jarrett was born in Iran to African-American parents and did not “write” the Iran deal.
The video is Barr’s most direct commentary yet on the tweet that led to her show’s cancelation after declining numerous requests for sit-down interviews with major news outlets. She indicated on Twitter a couple of weeks ago that she would be doing a TV interview, but then reversed course the next day, tweeting, "After a lot of thought, I decided that I won't be doing any TV interviews, too stressful & untrustworthy 4 me & my fans.”
Instead, Barr promised that she would post “the entire explanation of what happened & why” on her YouTube channel. Perhaps this is only part of that fuller explanation.
Last month, ABC decided to move forward with The Connors, a Roseanne spinoff series that will feature everyone in the main cast minus Roseanne Barr. There were reports that Barr was “seriously considering” forgoing any profits from the spinoff, though the details of the deal she ultimately made has been kept under wraps. When the new show was announced, Barr said in a statement, “I agreed to the settlement in order that 200 jobs of beloved cast and crew could be saved, and I wish the best for everyone involved.”
