Roseanne Barr Blames Sleeping Pills for Her Racist Tweet

Roseanne Barr insinuated Tuesday night that sleeping pills are responsible for a tweet in which she suggested former Barack Obama advisor Valerie Jarrett was the offspring of the Muslim Brotherhood and Planet of the Apes.

Barr said in a tweet that has since been deleted that her initial tweet about Jarrett — which ultimately led to the cancellation of Roseanne — was written after she had taken the prescription sleeping pill Ambien.

“It was 2 in the morning and I was Ambien tweeting,” Barr wrote before deleting the tweet, CBS News reports. “It was Memorial Day too. I went too far and do not want it defended. It was egregious [and] indefensible.”

“I think Joe Rogan is right about Ambien,” she added, referencing the comedian and UFC host who described the drug as “scary stuff.” “Not giving excuses for what I did (tweeted) but I’ve done weird stuff while on Ambien: cracked eggs on the wall at 2am etc.”

Wednesday morning, Barr responded to a tweet about her Ambien comments, denying that she blames the medication for her actions.

“no, i didnt i blamed myself. stop lying,” she wrote. “Yes, I have had odd ambien experiences on tweeting late at night-like many other ppl do. I BLAME MYSELF OK? it’s just an explanation not an excuse, Ok, bully?”

Barr will reportedly appear on Rogan’s podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, on Friday. The comedian tweeted a link to a Huffington Post article on Wednesday titled “The Disturbing Side Effect of Ambien, the No. 1 Prescription Sleep Aid.”

Ambien is part of the Z drug family, a group of medications designed to help people sleep.

Barr apologized Tuesday morning after her tweet made headlines the same day.

“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,” she wrote, also adding that she was “leaving Twitter.”

But her absence from the social media platform didn’t last long, as Tuesday night she was back tweeting, retweeting and responding to fans — starting with another apology.

“Don’t feel sorry for me, guys!!” she wrote in a tweet that has since been deleted. “I just want to apologize to the hundreds of people and wonderful writers (all liberal) and talented actors who lost their jobs on my show due to my stupid tweet.”

She went on to urge her fans not to boycott ABC and followed up with yet another apology, this one a bit more defiant.

“I’m sorry 4 my tweet, AND I will also defend myself as well as talk to my followers. so, go away if u don’t like it. I will handle my sadness the way I want to. I’m tired of being attacked & belittled more than other comedians who have said worse,” she wrote in another since-deleted tweet.

After ABC canceled the upcoming season of Roseanne, the network did not air its planned repeat episode of the veteran sitcom on Tuesday night, instead showing a repeat episode of The Middle.

Roseanne will presumably not air next Tuesday night, either. Hulu pulled all of the rebooted season 10 episodes from its streaming platform, but the original seasons 1-9 are still currently available on Amazon Prime Video.