Roseanne Barr Apologizes for Over the Line Valerie Jarrett Comment, 'Leaves Twitter'

Roseanne Barr apologized Tuesday after making a 'bad joke' about former Obama adviser Valerie [...]

By Libby Birk

Roseanne Barr apologized Tuesday after making a "bad joke" about former Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett, adding that she was "leaving Twitter" as a result.

"I apologize. I am now leaving Twitter," Barr wrote on Twitter Tuesday morning. A few minutes later, she tweeted, "I apologize to Valerie Jarrett and to all Americans. I am truly sorry for making a bad joke about her politics and her looks. I should have known better. Forgive me-my joke was in bad taste."

The 65-year-old Roseanne actress faced backlash early Tuesday after she suggested that Jarrett is a product of the Muslim Brotherhood and Planet of the Apes.

"muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=[Valerie Jarrett]," Barr tweeted in response to a post about Jarrett.

roseanne-barr-valerie-jarrett-tweet
(Photo: Twitter / @therealroseanne)

Jarrett, who is African-American with no ties to the Sunni Muslim organization known as the Muslim Brotherhood, was one of the most senior and long-term presences in the Obama White House.

She has since deleted the tweet, but not the few that defended her comment as a joke.

CNN reporter Andrew Kaczynski wrote that "ABC is doing their best to ignore some of these statements from Roseanne and she is making it really hard for them by taking it to next level here."

Barr responded, "It's a joke-"

The tweet faced swift backlash, with one person calling it "beyond disgusting" and others writing that they would #BoycottBarr. After multiple people called her racist for her reference to Planet of the Apes, Barr responded, "Muslims r NOT a race."

She later tweeted, "ISLAM is not a RACE, lefties. Islam includes EVERY RACE of people."

Barr is currently starring in and head writer of the reboot of her old sitcom Roseanne on ABC. This is not the first time she's faced backlash over her combative Twitter presence.

Earlier this month, she was embroiled in a seriously NSFW Twitter fight with Stormy Daniels and later defended Kanye West's remarks about President Donald Trump. She has even used Twitter to promote conspiracies and fake news including one that argued President Trump had secretly broken up sex trafficking and pedophile rings around the world.

She defended her support for President Trump in late April to Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show, making it clear she doesn't care what her critics think of her political stance.

"Oh yeah, people are mad about that. But you know, I don't give a f—," Barr told Fallon when he brought up people who "aren't so happy" with her support for Trump.

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