'I made myself a hate magnet', Roseanne Barr admits in emotional podcast
After Roseanne Barr took to social media to compare Valerie Jarrett to a monkey, her show's network ABC were quick to distance themselves … and they weren't the only ones.
In an emotional interview, Roseanne Barr said she definitely feels remorse for the racist tweet that prompted ABC to cancel the revival of Roseanne.
Barr recorded a podcast interview with her longtime friend, Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, who published an edited transcript and recording of the conversation. In the interview, Barr claims she "never would have wittingly called any black person a monkey".
Barr spoke through tears for much of the interview, her first since the cancellation of Roseanne. She also lamented that some people don't accept her explanation blaming the sleep drug Ambien for a tweet that likened former Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett to a person created by the Muslim Brotherhood and Planet of the Apes.
"I said to God, 'I am willing to accept whatever consequences this brings because I know I've done wrong. I'm going to accept what the consequences are', and I do, and I have,'' Barr said. "But they don't ever stop. They don't accept my apology, or explanation. And I've made myself a hate magnet. And as a Jew, it's just horrible. It's horrible.''
Roseanne Barr says that she, "didn't mean what they think I meant", when she made a controversial Tweet back in May that led to the cancellation of her sitocom.
READ MORE:
* Roseanne spinoff - minus Rosanne Barr- gets a green light
* Roseanne spin-off all but set as star 'waives rights' to characters
* Roseanne Barr: 'I begged' ABC not to cancel my show
* Roseanne cancelled after its star went on a vitriolic, racist Twitter rampage
* Celebrities, activists, co-stars react to Roseanne cancellation
* NZ's Three cuts Roseanne from screens following racist Twitter attacks
Barr said of her tweet that she, "didn't mean what they think I meant".
"But I have to face that it hurt people,'' Barr said. "When you hurt people, even unwillingly, there's no excuse. I don't want to run off and blather on with excuses. But I apologise to anyone who thought, or felt offended and who thought that I meant something that I, in fact, did not mean. It was my own ignorance, and there's no excuse for that ignorance.''
This year's revival of Roseanne was hugely successful.
ABC on Thursday announced it will this fall air a 10-episode Conner family sitcom without Barr in it. In a statement issued by the show's producer, Barr said she agreed to the settlement to save the jobs of 200 cast and crew members.
ABC swiftly axed Roseanne last month after Barr's tweet. ABC Entertainment President Channing Dungey said it was "abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values".
Though Roseanne prompted outrage for jokes about minority characters and an episode some called Islamophobic, it was watched by an enormous television audience.
The first episode in March was seen by more than 25 million people.
"I've lost everything,'' Barr said on the podcast. "And I regretted it before I lost everything.''
- AP
Comments