Roseanne Barr Breaks Down Background of Racist Tweet

In a teary talk with Rabbi Shmuley, Roseanne Barr claims the intent of her career-crushing tweet was misconstrued by the public and that she ultimately regretted her remarks.

“I terribly regret it, are you kidding?” Barr said. “I’ve lost everything and I regretted it before I lost everything. I’ve made myself a hate magnet!”

Barr insisted that the tweet expressed her displeasure with former Barack Obama aide Valerie Jarrett's views on foreign policy with the Middle-East, not her views on Jarret’s race. After tweeting "muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj," the comment received stern criticism from a fellow cast member and others on the internet. In response, ABC quickly cancelled the reboot of Barr’s show, Roseanne, despite its rave reviews.

As a proud Jewish woman, Barr felt that Jarrett was trying to undermine her freedom.

“I will never stop defending Israel and the Jewish people and that’s what I thought I was doing,” Barr said. “ Valerie Jarrett, I don’t agree with her politics. And I thought she was white, I did not know she was a black woman.”

“I’m a lot of things, but I’m not stupid for God's sake! I would never call a black person a monkey wittingly.”

Barr insists that she believes in equality for all people and that Martin Luther King Jr. is her hero. She also noted that she has black children in her family and other African-American loved ones. Additionally the disgraced star mentioned that she was on Ambien at 2 a.m. when she sent the tweet, but takes full responsibility for her actions regardless.

“I didn’t mean what they think I meant, but I have to face that this hurt people and when you hurt people, even unwittingly, there’s no excuse,” Barr said.

She publicly apologized to Jarret, the cast and crew of her show and all those who were hurt by her comments. Barr has since donated to two charities that deal with race issues and expressed her desire to speak with Jarret in person to pass on her sentiments.