Roseanne Barr is never going to learn, it seems. The controversial actress has once again made a reference to the racist tweet she posted in May, in which she compared former Barack Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett to an ape, and she seems to be digging for herself a deeper hole.
In a YouTube video she posted from her account recently, Barr is heard saying that at the time of sending out her tweet about Jarrett, she thought she was a white woman and not a woman of color. But the way she went about expressing that sentiment, isn't likely to endear her to too many people.
In the clip, a visibly agitated Barr is seen smoking a cigarette while her interviewer talks about a hypothetical presidential scandal. “I’m trying to talk about Iran!” Barr interjects. “I’m trying to talk about, Valerie Jarrett wrote the Iran deal! … That’s what my tweet was about!”
“I know,” the interviewer replies. “You’ve explained this literally 300 times.” Then Barr starts screaming: “I thought the bitch was white! Goddamnit! I thought the bitch was white! F—k!”
Barr's comment about Jarrett's racial ethnicity comes only two weeks after she addressed Jarrett in a July 6 episode of the 'Rabbi Shmuley Podcast', as reported by Us Weekly. “The work of your hands … makes me feel threatened,” she said at the time.
“I shouldn’t have said, you know, like you said — don’t make it personal. But you kind of have to when it’s, like, the work of your hand is what I’m against — not you personally — but the work of your hands.”
The 'Roseanne' alum even apologized for her actions in a prior episode of the 'Rabbi Shmuley Podcast', saying, “Of course I’m not a racist. I’m an idiot. I might have done something that comes across as a bigoted and ignorant, and I know that that’s how it came across … I never would have wittingly called any black person and say they are a monkey. I just wouldn’t do that, and I didn’t do that, and that people think that I did that — it just kills me.”
It was previously reported that once Barr's tweet went viral, ABC canceled their 'Roseanne' reboot because of the protagonist's racial tweets, that were creating a huge wave in the media. ABC Entertainment president Channing Dungey said in the network's statement, “Roseanne’s Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show."
ABC decided to take the big step following Roseanne's since-deleted Twitter comment in which she wrote, "Muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj.”
Meanwhile, Sara Gilbert, who plays Roseanne's daughter on the ABC show, tweeted that Barr's comments are "abhorrent and do not reflect the beliefs of our cast and crew or anyone associated with our show."
She further added, "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."
And if sources are to be believed, Sarah does not plan on working with Roseanne ever again. “She thinks that Roseanne is a disgusting and racist person,” the source told the website. “Sara will never, ever work with her again.”
"The two have been going at it over creative differences, particularly when it comes to political dialogue that is in the script,” the source added. “Sara and the rest of the cast put up with Roseanne’s behavior for almost a decade. They are all thrilled the show got picked up for another season, but they do not know how they will get through this season if Roseanne continues to act the way that she is.”
Prior to the ABC announcement, Sarah took to Twitter to put her views forward. "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," she wrote.
But looks like Barr still does have her own set of supporters on her side. Comedian Jerry Seinfeld has never been one to shy away from expressing controversial opinions and thoughts, and he revealed that he felt Barr should not have been fired from the show.
"I didn't see why it was necessary to fire her," he said at the time, adding, "Why would you murder someone who's committing suicide?"
"But I never saw someone ruin their entire career with one button push. That was fresh," he added. While the initial impression may have been that Seinfeld was attempting to defend Barr's actions, it's clear that his stance is one that's born out of intrigue and fascination than anything else.
"I think they should get another Roseanne," he said. "They brought Dan Conner back, he was dead and they brought him back. So, why can't we get another Roseanne? There are other funny women that could do that part. You need to get a comic in there. I hate to see a comic lose a job."
ABC has confirmed that they have officially picked up the reboot show, with a working title 'The Conners.' The official statement from ABC read, '''The Conners' (working title), a spinoff of the groundbreaking family comedy 'Roseanne,' has been greenlit to series with an order of 10 episodes for fall 2018."
But Barr is thinking ahead in this little game that ABC seems to be playing. According to reports, insiders have now revealed that the actress is preparing for a new show on a competing network.
While the original Roseanne show might make a return with a Barr-free spinoff, centering around the character of Darlene Connor, Barr herself is holding meetings with producers and network executives to star in a potential spin-off that could offer quite the competition to The Connors - which is the official one.
“One network has already offered her a very fat contract,” a TV insider told Radar Online. “The money that’s being thrown around is as much as $37 million, and many millions more in international syndication residual payments!” An industry expert also added that Barr's being so passionate about the topic as “she will likely OWN her new show AND all the international syndication rights."
