Five years after her dramatic fall from grace, Roseanne Barr is still speaking out—and she’s not holding back.
In a powerful new interview with The Los Angeles Times, the comedian reflects on the backlash she faced after her controversial 2018 tweet and the fallout that followed.
“It was a witch-burning,” she says. “Terrifying. I’ve survived, but it changed everything.”
At the time, the reboot of Roseanne was dominating the ratings on ABC. But after Barr tweeted a comparison between White House advisor Valerie Jarrett and a character from Planet of the Apes, everything changed overnight.
She claimed she didn’t know Jarrett was Black and blamed the tweet on being under the influence of Ambien, but the damage was done. ABC fired her, killed off her character, and rebranded the show as The Conners, which continues without her.