Comedian Roseanne Barr blamed sleeping pills for the racist tweet that led to her show Roseanne‘s cancellation — then deleted a tweet that included the claim.
Barr posted a series of tweets regarding the controversy late Tuesday and early Wednesday. In one, she wrote that she had been “ambien tweeting” when she posted the offensive message, referring to the sleep aid. In a separate tweet, she added that she was, “Not giving excuses for what I did (tweeted) but I’ve done weird stuff while on ambien.” Both messages have since been deleted.
Sanofi, the maker of Ambien, pushed back on Barr’s claim with a tweet of its own. Though it did not name the actress specifically, the company wrote that, “Racism is not a known side effect of any Sanofi medication.”
ABC canceled Roseanne after Barr posted a tweet saying that if “muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby,” it would be former White House adviser Valerie Jarrett, who is black and was born in Iran. Barr, who has a history of inflammatory comments, has apologized for the tweet — both to Jarrett and to show staffers who lost their jobs over it — but also tweeted that she was tired of “being attacked and belittled more than other comedians who have said worse,” Reuters reports.
Barr also said she would leave Twitter, though she was still posting as of Wednesday morning.
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