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Roseanne Barr to Leave Twitter After Making a Racial Slur

Roseanne Barr to Leave Twitter After Making a Racial Slur

(Bloomberg) -- Roseanne Barr apologized for making a racial slur about a member of the Obama administration, embroiling the TV star in a new controversy.

In response to a tweet about Valerie Jarrett, an Obama adviser between 2009 and 2017, Barr said it was as if the Muslim Brotherhood and “Planet of the Apes” “had a baby.” After an outcry, she said Tuesday that she’ll leave Twitter.

“I apologize to Valerie Jarrett and to all Americans,” Barr tweeted. “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.”

Barr, 65, has repeatedly used Twitter as a platform for her political views, including her distaste for the Clinton family. Her social-media militancy threatens to create headaches for Walt Disney Co., which airs her show on its ABC network.

“Roseanne” has helped ABC climb out of the ratings cellar in the just-ended TV season, attracting an average of 18.7 million viewers a night. It ranks as one of the most-watched shows since its return in March, according to Nielsen data.

In the wake of the Jarrett tweet, “Roseanne” consulting producer Wanda Sykes said she wouldn’t be returning to the show. Disney, based in Burbank, California, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The program, which features Barr playing a Donald Trump supporter, is a revival of her sitcom that debuted in the 1980s. It went off the air in 1997.

--With assistance from Gerry Smith.

To contact the reporters on this story: Nick Turner in New York at nturner7@bloomberg.net;Rob Golum in Los Angeles at rgolum@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Nick Turner at nturner7@bloomberg.net, Rob Golum

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