Fallen TV star Roseanne Barr has returned to Twitter to tell fans not to feel sorry for her after racist tweets saw her revived TV show abruptly axed.
Retweeting messages fiercely defending her with arguments including that Valerie Jarrett, who Barr described as an "ape", was "lighter" in skin colour and therefore the comment wasn't racist, Barr also made another apology, and a plea to her fans.
In a series of post-firing tweets, Barr told people not to defend her and claimed she was "ambien tweeting" when she fired off the comments about Jarrett.
"They're just words," was one of the arguments Barr supporters used to defend the fallen TV star. Photo / AP
"Guys I did something unforgivable so do not defend me. It was 2 in the morning and I was ambien tweeting-it was memorial day too-i went 2 far & do not want it defended-it was egregious Indefensible," she tweeted.
Moments before, she posted: "Don't feel sorry for me, guys!! - I just want to apologise 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," she wrote.
It comes as rightwing commentators and high-profile celebs who laud US President Donald Trump, worship Barr, and decry political correctness and "fake news" rushed to Barr's defence after the popular Roseanne TV sitcom was cancelled by ABC in America, going to extraordinary lengths to support her.
With arguments including "she's not racist" and "they're just words", the defences of some of her supporters seemed straight out of right field.
So much so that some who had traditionally agreed with their views were calling her supporters out for the "mental gymnastics" required to concoct simplistic arguments ranging from the wilfully obtuse to deliberately ignorant to "prove" that the now-deleted tweet wasn't racist.
Many on Twitter were appalled by Barr's tweet, which was in response to an article from a conspiracy website.
This, despite the fact that Barr compared a black former Obama administration official Valerie Jarrett to an ape, writing that if the Islamist political movement "Muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby = vj." then clumsily apologised, admitting it was "a bad joke", "in bad taste" and she should have known better.
So Roseanne referencing a movie title is racist. Lying dishonest soulless freaks from Planet of the Apes
Vehement defenders argued Barr was everything from a victim of political correctness to just plain misunderstood.
Singer Ted Nugent ignored the racist connotations of comparing African-Americans to apes.
"So Roseanne referencing a movie title is racist. Lying dishonest soulless freaks from Planet of the Apes," he tweeted.
Conservative radio talk-show host and loyal Trump defender Bill Mitchell joined the fray, tweeting that in Planet of the Apes, the apes were superior, so comparing Jarrett to an ape wasn't racist.
He deleted that tweet, but doubled down with another barrage of posts, arguing Barr wasn't racist "she just doesn't like Jarrette" and cancelling her show was an over-reaction.
Anyway, he argued, they were just "words".
He also argued it's not like Barr had ever been accused of being racist before.
Except Barr does have form with both offensive outbursts, and racist ape insults: five years ago calling then-US National Security Advisor Susanne Rice, another African American woman, a "man with big swinging ape balls".
The justifications were all too much for some fellow right-wingers like high-profile conservative commentator Tomi Lahren.
Lahren's outspoken views have seen her compare the Black Lives Matter movement to the Ku Klux Klan — but she drew the line at the "mental gymnastics" being used to defend Barr.
What Roseanne said was wrong. I’m sure she knows that. She made a mistake. I don’t know why fellow conservatives are playing mental gymnastics trying to justify it. Come on. Wrong is wrong.
Meanwhile, some were saying Barr's demise was political correctness gone mad, and a victory for the thought police.
Others used a picture of comedian and TV host Bill Maher comparing Trump to an orange orang-utan to argue Barr's axing was a classic example of double standards.
Since Roseanne got fired for comparing Valerie Jarrett to an ape, I guess it's only fair that Bill Maher gets fired for comparing Donald Trump to an Ape, right?
