Image Source: Stand-Up Sucks, LLC / William S. Saturn, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
What Was the Accusation?
Comedian and actress Roseanne Barr faced widespread criticism on May 29, 2018, after posting a tweet about Valerie Jarrett, a former senior adviser to President Barack Obama. Responding to a discussion about Jarrett, Barr wrote that the “muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj.” Jarrett is Black, and the comparison to an ape was widely condemned as racist. Barr initially characterized the remark as a joke, but the backlash spread quickly. Consulting producer Wanda Sykes announced that she would leave Barr’s recently revived ABC sitcom, Roseanne, and cast member and executive producer Sara Gilbert publicly described Barr’s comments as abhorrent and inconsistent with the beliefs of the show’s cast and crew. Later that day, ABC Entertainment president Channing Dungey announced that the network had canceled Roseanne, calling Barr’s statement “abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values.” Barr’s talent agency, ICM Partners, also ended its relationship with her.
Barr deleted the offending post and issued several responses. Her initial public apology said she was sorry to Jarrett and “all Americans” for what she called a bad joke about Jarrett’s politics and appearance, adding that she should have known better. She also apologized to the writers and actors who lost work after the program was canceled. Her subsequent explanations complicated the apology. Barr said she had been taking the prescription sleep medication Ambien when she posted the tweet, while also saying that this was not an excuse and describing her own conduct as indefensible. She denied being racist, emphasized what she described as a long record of supporting civil rights, and said she had not known that Jarrett was Black. In July, Barr further argued that her intended subject had been politics and the Iran nuclear agreement rather than Jarrett’s race.
On July 26, 2018, Barr gave her first national television interview after the cancellation, appearing on Sean Hannity’s Fox News program. She again denied racist intent and said the controversy had cost her “everything.” When Hannity pressed her to address Jarrett directly, Barr apologized for the harm and hurt caused by the tweet but continued to insist that the message itself had been political rather than racist. Her response therefore combined explicit expressions of regret with defenses of intent, explanations of circumstances, and references to her prior conduct. The controversy became a significant image-repair case not only because ABC canceled one of television’s most successful revived sitcoms within hours of the post, but also because Barr’s repeated apologies were accompanied by arguments contesting the interpretation at the center of the criticism.
Key Apologia Strategies:
Mortification, Denial, Defeasibility, Bolstering, Good Intentions
Video
Roseanne Barr’s July 26, 2018 interview with Sean Hannity:
Transcript
Roseanne Barr’s initial Tweet, May 29, 2018:
“I apologize to Valerie Jarrett and to all Americans. 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.”
Roseanne Barr’s Tweet to the cast and crew of Roseanne, May 29, 2018:
“I just want to apologize to the hundreds of people, and wonderful writers (all liberal) and talented actors who lost their jobs on my show due to my stupid tweet.”
Excerpts from Roseanne Barr’s July 26, 2018 Hannity interview:
“I was hacked. I’ve apologized a lot. It’s been two months. I’ve apologized and explained and asked for forgiveness. I was so sad that people thought [the tweet] was racist. And I went into the whole discussion of racism, and that blew my mind because it was so much what the show I was doing was about. Why couldn’t they see my work?”
“The thing that broke my heart the most is that I have African-American children in my family and in my loving circle. I’m so sad that anyone thinks that of me, but I’m not that person. I was going through a very hard time… I didn’t [know better]. I made a mistake. It cost me everything, my life’s work. I wish I worded it better.”
“Let’s talk about it. Let’s really turn this into a teachable moment. We need to talk about race and everything that’s connected to it. Her skin tone is like mine and I’m brown. I didn’t know she was African-American. I assumed because she was from Iran and she lived in Iran for such a long time. If she’s watching, I’m so sorry you thought I was racist and you thought that my tweet was racist because it wasn’t. It was political. I’m sorry for the misunderstanding that caused my ill-worded tweet. I’m sorry that you feel harmed 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. My 30 years of work can attest to that.”
