The manufacturers of Ambien don’t want users to be worried about becoming racist just because Roseanne Barr used its product as an excuse for her tweet about Valerie Jarrett on Tuesday.
“People of all races, religions and nationalities work at Sanofi every day to improve the lives of people around the world,” the pharmaceutical company said in a statement to TheWrap Wednesday. While all pharmaceutical treatments have side effects, racism is not a known side effect of any Sanofi medication.”
Late Tuesday after ABC canceled “Roseanne,” Barr attempted to explain that she was “ambien tweeting” at 2 a.m. “Guys I did something unforgiveable [sic] 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 wrote.
Barr’s attempt at blaming Ambien for her racially-charged tweet did not go over well with the Twitter community, with many people failing to find the link between the sleep-aid drug and her comments about the former Obama aide.
The comedian’s return to Twitter last night came after she announced earlier in the day she was “leaving” the social media platform following her tweet about Jarrett. “muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj,” Barr wrote in response to a Twitter thread about the former adviser to Barack Obama.
Backlash to Barr’s remark was fierce, with the Disney-owned broadcaster quickly deciding to axe the sitcom (the No. 1 show on television) just hours after she tried to make amends with a subsequent apology tweet, in which she said her statement about Jarrett was a “joke” that was “in bad taste.”
“Roseanne’s Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show,” ABC entertainment president Channing Dungey said in a statement to TheWrap.
Barr was dropped by her talent agency, ICM Partners, Tuesday over the remarks, which they found “disgraceful and unacceptable.”
Meanwhile, Viacom pulled “Roseanne” reruns from its Paramount Network, TV Land and CMT channels. Laff digital network is also nixing repeats of the sitcom and Hulu has decided to yank episodes of the revival from the streaming platform.