Even before her "racist" comments on Twitter in May 2018, Roseanne Barr was still a controversial figure as far as many were concerned. An outspoken Trump supporter who often ruffled the feathers of Democrats, with her contentious opinions, love of conspiracy theories and all round brazen sense of humour. Her reputation wasn't perfect, but she was nonetheless still accepted into the showbiz fold.
But after she compared former Obama administration advisor Valerie Jarrett to the movie The Planet of the Apes, she'd finally gone too far. Cast of out of Hollywood, her show, which had received phenomenally high ratings, was cancelled. Many of her fans abandoned her, and her co-stars hauled her over the coals.
After attempting to defend herself in several bizarre Twitter rants, the comedian fell silent. Now, weeks later she has returned to conduct her first interview since the scandal.
Barr broke down in a recent tearful podcast interview with friend Rabbi Shmuley Botea, insisting she would "never would have wittingly called any black person... a monkey".
Naming herself as a "hate figure" and struggling to speak between sobs, she said: "I’m a lot of things, a loud mouth and all that stuff. But I’m not stupid for God’s sake. I never would have wittingly called any black person and say they are a monkey. I just wouldn’t do that. I didn’t do that. And people think that I did that and it just kills me. I’m just so sorry that I was so unclear and stupid ... 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."
She continued: "I have to face that it hurt people. 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."
She continued to say that, while she has accepted the upshot of her actions, her critics are still making it hard for her, saying: "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."
ABC on Thursday announced that they would be airing a Roseanne spin-off without Barr, developing a 10-episode Conner family sitcom in the autumn.
Responding to their decision, the shamed actress stated, "I regret the circumstances that have caused me to be removed from ‘Roseanne’. 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."
It is not yet known when the spin-off will air, nor how it plans to address the absence of its former star.
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