Roseanne Barr Breaks Her Silence, Reveals ABC Wanted Her Out From The Very Start

Roseanne Barr is pulling no punches in a defiant new interview where she revisits her 2018 firing from ABC following a controversial tweet.

Now the focus of an upcoming documentary, Barr claims liberal executives targeted her, spied, and manipulated her.

She also reveals her greatest regret and why she believes apologizing was the ultimate mistake.

Barr was riding high in 2018 when her self-titled sitcom reboot drew sky-high ratings and even earned a congratulatory call from President Donald Trump.

However, her career came crashing down after a late-night tweet referring to former POTUS Barack Obama's advisor Valerie Jarrett as the product of the "Muslim Brotherhood and Planet of the Apes."

The backlash was swift, and ABC canceled the show, condemning her comment as “abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values.”

However, in a new interview promoting her June documentary, "Roseanne Barr is America," by conservative filmmaker Joel Gilbert, the 72-year-old comedian claimed the network had it out for her from the beginning.

“They were waiting for me to slip up,” Barr told the Daily Mail. “They spied. They monitored everything I did. They wanted to censor me from the very beginning.”

The comedian has long maintained that the tweet was not racially motivated.

Jarrett, born in Iran to African American parents, was a senior advisor in the Obama administration and a key figure in the Iran nuclear deal, which Barr vocally opposed.

“The Planet of the Apes movie is about a fascist takeover of the world—and that is what I was talking about,” Barr explained. “The tweet was intended as a humorous political statement and not a racial one. But liberals in Hollywood are so racist, they automatically think of a black person.”

She also admitted to being under the influence of prescription sleep medication while tweeting late at night, a condition she’s previously described as “Ambien tweeting.”

Still, she insisted, “I’m not stupid. I would never refer to a black person as the product of an ape.”

For Barr, the biggest mistake wasn’t the tweet, it was the apology.

“The worst mistake you can do is apologize to the left. Then they are on a crusade against you,” she said. “Once you admit a mistake, they will keep on until you're dead.”

She believes her apology only fueled the outrage. “They hijacked that tweet and made out it said something that it didn’t,” she added.

Despite her remorse over apologizing, Barr emphasized that she never intended to hurt anyone.

Her comments, she claimed, were twisted by an industry she feels is inherently biased against conservative voices like hers.

Barr’s defiance is nothing new. Born in Salt Lake City to Jewish parents, she endured a difficult upbringing that included a serious brain injury at 16.

After the accident, her behavior changed dramatically, leading her family to institutionalize her for over eight months.

“Actually, I thought it was a more lively place than my own home,” she reflects while chatting with Gilbert in the upcoming documentary.

At 17, she became pregnant and was sent to a Salvation Army home in Denver, where she gave birth and placed her daughter for adoption.

“Mom didn’t want the neighbors to be ashamed of her,” she shared. “When I look back on that I bust a gut laughing because they were all drunks and perverts.”

After years of struggling, Barr found her voice in stand-up comedy. She performed in biker bars and jazz clubs, often using what she called “funny womanness” to tackle taboo topics.

In 1988, "Roseanne" premiered to over 21 million viewers, striking a chord with working-class families.

Barr has never shied from expressing support for Trump and the MAGA movement after switching to his side, but revealed earlier this year that it hasn’t earned her a place within his inner circle.

The actress said she continues to be kept at arm’s length by prominent conservative figures and right-wing celebrities, even after making a public political shift. In an interview with Variety, Barr opened up about her attempts to align herself more visibly with conservative politics.

Despite her efforts to become a prominent right-wing figure, she remains, in her own words, “persona non grata” in Trump’s orbit.

According to Barr, her outspoken nature may be what’s keeping her on the outside. “I’m not a party line person for anyone or anything except myself,” she said. “The Trump staff or whoever runs it, they’re a little afraid of me. I am a loudmouth comedian, so I understand it.”

She also acknowledged that she understood why some may see her as unpredictable. “They think I’m a loose cannon,” Barr admitted, agreeing with the perception.

Still, the rejection has been personally painful for the former sitcom star. “It really hurt my feelings,” she confessed. “But what are you gonna do?”