Roseanne Barr has broken her silence on her racist tweet from May. In the tweet, Barr used the word "ape" to refer to White House staffer Valerie Jarrett, inciting an uproar that ultimately led to the cancellation of Roseanne.
"I am truly sorry for making a bad joke about [Jarrett's] politics and her looks," Barr said in her official apology. I should have known better. Forgive me."
Since then, Barr has laid low, although the cancellation of Roseanne looms over television coverage in the media. In June, ABC picked up a Roseanne spinoff called The Conners that will operate without Barr.
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In her first real interview since, Barr claims that she didn't know that Jarrett was Black. Barr previously told her followers that she would give a television interview this week. She later backtracked, tweeting that she decided television was "too stressful & untrustworthy" for her. Seemingly in lieu of that, Barr uploaded a video of herself being interviewed to her personal YouTube channel Thursday night. In the video, she has some choice things to say about the situation.
"I'm trying to talk about Iran!" she says. Later, when an off-camera interviewer tries to coach her into seeming a bit more composed, Barr says, "I thought the b*** was white!"
In June, Barr said on Twitter that the tweet was in response to the "anti-semitism" of the Iran deal.
Refinery29 has reached out to representation for Barr for further comment.
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