Roseanne Barr accuses Hollywood of double standards

‘I’m the only person whose life’s work was stolen by people I thought loved me,’ actor says

Roseanne Barr has accused Hollywood of having double standards.

The 70-year-old actor opened up about ABC firing her from her top-rated sitcom Roseanne in 2018 and compared the treatment she received to that of Dave Chappelle and Louis CK.

The star was sacked from her self-titled sitcom Roseanne by the broadcaster after she posted a racist tweet about former Obama administration official Valerie Jarrett, in which she compared Jarrett to an ape.

She later claimed she didn’t realise Jarrett was Black and that she was on ambien at the time.

In a new interview with the Los Angeles Times, Barr said: “They didn’t do it to anyone else in Hollywood, although they always [mention] Dave Chappelle and Louis CK.

“Well, Louis CK did lose everything, but he committed an actual [offense]. And Dave Chappelle was protected by Netflix.

“I’m the only person who’s lost everything, whose life’s work was stolen, stolen by people who I thought loved me. And there was silence. There was no one in Hollywood really defending me publicly, except for Mo’nique, who is a brave, close, dear friend.”

“It was a witch-burning,” Barr claimed. “They denied me the right to apologise. Oh my God, they just hated me so badly. I had never known that they hated me like that.

Roseanne Barr claims she was on ambien when she posted a racist tweet about a former Barack Obama administration official (Getty Images)

“They hate me because I have talent, because I have an opinion. Even though Roseanne became their No 1 show, they’d rather not have a No 1 show… When they killed my character off, that was a message to me – knowing that I’m mentally ill or have mental health issues – that they did want me to commit suicide.”

In 2019, Barr accused ABC of using her firing over a racist tweet as “an excuse to steal [her] life’s work”.

Talking about her sacking, she had told DailyMailTV: “It was devastating and horrible that they would do that to me and then on top of it use that as an excuse to steal my life’s work.”

Barr also suggested the broadcaster had planned to fire her regardless. “It was a perfect storm, kind of a little bit too perfect. Sometimes I think, ‘Was this orchestrated?’”