Roseanne Barr Gets Candid in First TV Interview Since Racist Tweet: “It Cost Me My Life’s Work”

It’s been two months since the racist tweet that ended Roseanne Barr‘s iconic sitcom Roseanne and basically her career. And now, the disgraced actress has candidly opened up in her first broadcasted interview since the incident after originally canceling it.

“I made a mistake, obviously. It cost me everything, my life’s work,” she shared on the Fox News Channel show Hannity on Thursday, July 26. “I made a mistake and I’ve paid the price for it.”

In late May, Roseanne tweeted comparing one of Barack Obama’s former aides Valerie Jarrett to an ape. She took the interview as an opportunity to explain the reasoning behind her controversial words. 

“That was a political tweet,” Roseanne explained. “That is a tweet about asking for accountability from the previous administration about the Iran deal, which Valerie Jarrett is the author of, and that was what was in my head.'”

She added of her feelings following the backlash from the tweet, “The first thing was shock that they were saying it was racial, when it’s political. That was a hard one to take. Then everybody started to say I was a racist, which is the worst thing that you can call a Jewish person, especially someone like me who grew up with Holocaust survivors.”

Roseanne has apologized time and time again for her actions. She’s also been open about how she didn’t want her mistakes to affect the rest of the Roseanne cast. “I walked away from the show despite the fact that I had a contract that protected me from getting in trouble,” she confessed. “I was allowed under my contract to have 24 hours to correct any mistakes… But anyway, I walked away. I didn’t want to cause anyone to lose their jobs.” Luckily, they didn’t. A spin-off of the show, The Conners, is set to air on ABC in October.

And even though the new series will go on without Roseanne, the 65-year-old isn’t ruling out the idea of coming back to TV someday. When asked if she’d ever appear on the small screen again, she replied, “Only if there’s nudity.” I guess we’re glad she’s seeing the humor in this…