Roseanne Barr broke down during an interview as she tearfully apologized for the racist tweet that brought an end to her hit show and continues to embroil the embattled star in controversy.
The 65-year-old comedian spoke to spiritual adviser Rabbi Shmuley Boteach the day after her ABC sitcom ‘Roseanne’ was canceled in the wake of the tweet she posted about former Obama adivser Valerie Jarrett last month.
Boteach only posted the phone interview on his Soundcloud account on Sunday and published a full transcript of their conversation on Facebook.
It came after she was spotted out grocery shopping near her Utah home on Saturday where she has been hauled up ever since the controversy first erupted.
Roseanne Barr was spotted out grocery shopping near her Utah home on Saturday where she has been hauled up ever since the racist tweet controversy first erupted last month
Barr remained silent on Saturday when asked about the ABC’s recent decision to launch a spinoff show without Roseanne’s main character.
During her tearful interview with the Rabbi, Barr said of her tweet: ‘It’s really hard to say this but, I didn’t mean what they think I meant’.
‘That’s what’s so painful, but 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 apologize 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.’
The tweet in question saw Barr refer to the African American former White House aide as ‘Muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby’.
The 65-year-old disgraced comedian remained silent on Saturday when asked about the ABC’s recent decision to launch a spinoff show without Roseanne’s main character
Roseanne was out grocery shopping with her longtime boyfriend Johnny Argent (pictured in the background) in Utah on Saturday
Barr tweeted out a link to the Soundcloud interview and transcript on Sunday in which she tearfully apologized for the ordeal
Barr later deleted and apologized for the tweet, saying she was impaired by the sleep drug Ambien at the time she was posting.
Speaking through tears for much of the interview, Barr told the Rabbi that she definitely felt remorse for the saga.
Barr said she was willing to ‘accept whatever consequences this brings’ because she knows she’s ‘done wrong.’
She also lamented that some people didn’t accept her explanation blaming Ambien for the tweets.
‘That’s no excuse, but that is what was real,’ she said.
‘I horribly regret it. Are you kidding? I lost everything, and I regretted it before I lost everything.
‘And 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. But they don’t ever stop. They don’t accept my apology, or explanation.
‘I’ve made myself a hate magnet. And as a Jew, it’s just horrible. It’s horrible.’
Roseanne was spotted gardening at her home last week with family members close by
During her tearful interview with the Rabbi that emerged on Sunday, Barr said of her now infamous tweet: ‘It’s really hard to say this but, I didn’t mean what they think I meant’
Speaking through tears for much of the interview, Barr told the Rabbi that she definitely felt remorse for the saga
In the interview, Barr reiterated her earlier claims that she thought Jarrett was white said she ‘never would have wittingly called any black person a monkey’.
‘I have black children in my family. I can’t, I can’t let ’em say these things about that, after thirty years of my putting my family and my health and my livelihood at risk to stand up for people,’ Barr told Boteach.
‘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, [I would never had said] they are a monkey. I just wouldn’t do that. I didn’t do that.
‘People think that I did that and it just kills me. I didn’t do that. And if they do think that, I’m just so sorry that I was so unclear and stupid. I’m very sorry. But I don’t think that and I would never do that. I have loved ones who are African-American, and I just can’t stand it. I’ve made a huge error and I told ABC when they called me.’
The ABC announced on Thursday it would launch a spinoff of the ‘Roseanne’ series without its embattled star.
The tweet in question saw Barr refer to the African American former White House aide as ‘Muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby’
Barr was spotted watering her lawn and gardening with family members last week
The network will air a Conner family sitcom minus Barr this fall.
ABC ordered 10 episodes of the spinoff after Barr relinquished any creative or financial participation in it, which the network had said was a condition of such a series.
In a statement issued by the show’s producer, Barr said she agreed to the settlement to save the jobs of 200 cast and crew members who were idled when ‘Roseanne’ was canceled last month.
ABC said that the new series, with ‘The Conners’ as its working title, will star John Goodman, Laurie Metcalf, Sara Gilbert, Lecy Goranson and Michael Fishman.
How Barr’s character, the family matriarch, will be erased from their lives was left unexplained for now by ABC.
‘After a sudden turn of events, the Conners are forced to face the daily struggles of life in Lanford in a way they never have before,’ the network said in its announcement, referring to the fictional Illinois town where the family lives.
The spinoff will continue to portray contemporary issues that are as relevant today as they were 30 years ago,’ ABC said, a nod to the unusual portrayal of a blue-collar family on TV.