Roseanne Barr has opened up about her 2018 tweet that led to her show’s cancellation, claiming it was misinterpreted and never racist.
Despite initially apologizing, the actress now regrets making the post, claiming the backlash was politically motivated.
Roseanne Barr, who believes she was targeted for her conservative views, is now developing a brand new edgy comedy with Allan Stephan a few rebellious farmer, inspired by her life in Hawaii.
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Roseanne Barr Reflects On Her Infamous Tweet: ‘God Told Me To Do It’
In a brand new interview with Variety on June 6, Barr opened up over again concerning the tweet that abruptly ended her profession in Hollywood.
The 72-year-old comedian, who rose to fame along with her hit sitcom “Roseanne” (1988–1997), saw a temporary return to the highlight within the show’s 2018 reboot, until it was canceled after she posted a tweet widely condemned as racist.
Despite the fallout, Barr stays defiant and says she has no regrets.
“The best way I feel about it’s that God told me to do what I did, and it was a nuclear bomb,” she said. “The day of my tweet, over 2 million Americans googled Valerie Jarrett and the Iran deal. And that was my intent. So, whatever.”
The controversial tweet compared former Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett to a personality from “Planet of the Apes.”
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It read, “Muslim brotherhood & Planet of the Apes had a baby = vj.” Barr said she got here across a picture showing Jarrett beside actress Helena Bonham Carter in full prosthetic makeup because the ape character Ari from the 2001 film.
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The Comedian Claimed She Was Having ‘Nightmares’ About Her Show: ‘God Woke Me Up’
Barr explained how she made the controversial post, claiming she had just woken up after taking a combination of Ambien and alcohol.
“I used to be already having nightmares about never going back to that show [‘Roseanne’], and God woke me up. I had my laptop there in bed, as all the time.”
She continued, “I opened it, and there was [an X post with] an image of Valerie Jarrett next to Helena Bonham Carter in full makeup as Ari in ‘Planet of the Apes,’ and so they looked like Xerox copies of one another, so I captioned it.”
Although the “Roseanne” reboot debuted to impressive rankings, ABC swiftly canceled the series after Barr’s controversial tweet in 2018.
On the time, then-ABC Entertainment president Channing Dungey condemned the tweet, calling it “abhorrent, repugnant, and inconsistent with our values.”
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Disney CEO Bob Iger echoed the sentiment, stating, “There was just one thing to do here, and that was the proper thing.”
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Roseanne Barr Slams ABC As ‘The Conners’ Ends After Seven Seasons
Barr has continued to beat back against accusations of racism since her firing. In her recent Variety interview, she insisted her tweet was misinterpreted.
“They were so racist that they thought my tweet said Black people appear to be monkeys when it was about ‘Planet of the Apes,’ which is a movie about fascism,” she said. “Rod Serling himself said it’s concerning the Jews in Germany. It is just not a movie about Black people, Bob.”
Following Barr’s departure, ABC kept her show alive by rebranding it as “The Conners.” Her character, Roseanne, was written off via a fatal opioid overdose.
The spinoff continued for seven seasons before concluding in April 2025.
Roseanne Barr Slams ABC Over Firing, Says Apologizing Was Her ‘Worst Mistake’
Barr didn’t hold back when reflecting on her firing and the fate of her character within the “Roseanne” reboot.
“I felt very p-ssed off that they stole my rights and killed me,” she said. “It was so silly and shortsighted, and I do not know the way they answer to their shareholders for canceling me before even one sponsor pulled out.”
In a separate statement made in May, the Emmy-winning actress claimed she had long been a goal.
“They were waiting for me to slide up,” she said, alleging that network executives, particularly those she perceived as left-leaning, were already wary of her public support for Donald Trump.
“They spied. They monitored all the pieces I did,” Barr asserted. “They desired to censor me from the very starting.”
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She also believes her tweet was deliberately misrepresented, “They hijacked that tweet and made out it said something that it didn’t. I’m not silly. I’d never consult with a black person because the product of an ape.”
Although Barr offered a public apology back in 2018, she’s now walking it back.
“The worst mistake you may do is apologize to the left,” she said. “Then they’re on a crusade against you. When you admit a mistake, they may carry on until you are dead.”
Roseanne Barr Plots Return With Latest Comedy Inspired By Her Life On A Hawaiian Farm
Despite the controversy, Barr is not staying quiet. She’s moving forward with a brand new comedy project co-written with Allan Stephan, who previously worked on “Roseanne” and “Arli$$.”
In a January interview with Variety, the actress shared that the upcoming show blends elements of “The Roseanne Show” and “The Sopranos.”
The storyline follows a rough-edged Alabama farmer leading a crusade to “save America from drug gangs and China.”
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Barr described the inspiration as drawn from her own life on a Hawaiian farm, saying: “I live with my daughter and her husband and their six children on a farm. And so they have goats running through their house and stuff. It’s based on my life as a farmer in Hawaii. They save America with guns, the Bible, petty crime, and alcoholism. It’s sort of just like the Coen brothers thing.”
