Roseanne Barr, following through on her pledge to bypass “stressful & untrustworthy” TV interviews, has posted a promised YouTube message to explain “what happened & why” with regard to her tweet about Valerie Jarrett – the one that compared the former Obama aide to a Planet of the Apes character and torpedoed Barr’s sitcom Roseanne.
“I thought the bitch was white,” Barr screams at the top of her voice, directly into the camera, in this short video. “Goddammit! I thought the bitch was white!”
If the intention of the YouTube video is to lay blame on emotional distress or prove her acting chops – is Barr merely staging a mad scene? – mission accomplished. Or perhaps she’s genuinely distraught, and the outburst a sincere, impromptu reaction. In any case, ABC execs, including ABC Entertainment president Channing Dungey, are probably feeling reassured in their decision to cancel Roseanne and leave the actress out of the planned The Conners spin-off.
Smoking a cigarette, nervously running her hand through her longish blonde hair and generally channeling Jessica Lange as Frances Farmer, Barr begins the video in mid-conversation with a producer or camera operator, who complains about her (off-camera) multiple outfit changes, among other things.
“I’m trying to talk about Iran,” Barr yells back. “I’m trying to talk about Valerie Jarrett running the Iran deal.”
“I know, you told me this 300 times,” the producer argues back, apparently exasperating the former Roseanne star to the point of no return. That’s when she screams out that she thought Jarrett was white.
The video was posted last night, nearly two weeks after Barr announced, then rescinded, a pledge to tell her side of the Jarrett tweet story during a TV interview. “After a lot of thought,” she later tweeted, “I decided that I won’t be doing any TV interviews, too stressful & untrustworthy 4 me & my fans.”
Watch Barr’s YouTube, titled “Roseanne Explains The Valerie Jarrett Tweet” video, above.
Subscribe to Deadline Breaking News Alerts and keep your inbox happy.