Actor Roseanne Barr attempted
to defend
Thursday a comment she made about Valerie Jarrett in May as not racially motivated or meant as an attack on African-Americans
— because she thought the Obama administration official was from the Middle East.
In an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity that aired late Thursday, Barr said, “I did what I did. Then they called me,”
referring to the tweet and ABC’s response. “They said, ‘What possible excuse could you have for this unforgivable and egregious tweet?’ I said, ‘What do you mean exactly?'”
“You could have knocked me over with a feather. My boyfriend saw it. I was like, ‘What?
‘ I thought she was Middle Eastern,” Barr said.
“Her skin tone is like mine and I am brown
—
I didn’t know she was African-American. I assumed because she was from Iran,” Barr added.
Jarrett was born in Iran to American parents.
[Also read: Roseanne Barr says she doesn’t ‘suffer’ from multiple personality disorder: ‘I enjoy it now’]
Hannity started to push back and ask why comparing a
nyone
to the Muslim Brotherhood and Planet of the Apes would not still be inappropriate.
Barr, who
frequently digressed during the
hour
long interview, said she was willing to call
Jarrett and apologize, but had not
in the two months since sending the infamous tweet because she did not have the other woman’s phone number.
She insisted the incident was bred
of her frustration with Jarrett’s affiliation with the Obama White House and his foreign policy regarding Iran
,
not
Jarrett’s race.
When asked to issue an apology to Jarrett, Barr looked into the camera and became serious for a minute.
“If she is watching
—
I am so sorry you thought I was racist and you thought my tweet was racist because it wasn’t. It was political. I am sorry for the misunderstanding that caused by my ill-worded tweet. I am sorry that you feel harm and hurt. I never meant that. For that, I apologize. I never meant to hurt anybody or say anything negative about an entire race of people which I think
30 years of my work can attest to,” Barr said, pausing before continuing. “Plus, I’d tell her she’s gotta get a new haircut. I mean, seriously, she needs a new haircut.”
