Roseanne Barr unleashed a fresh batch of controversial tweets overnight and into Wednesday, blaming a prescription sleeping pill for the racist comment that got her show canceled — and lashing out at her co-stars for throwing her "under the bus."
In a tweet posted just after midnight ET, which has since been deleted, Barr wrote: "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. I made a mistake I wish I hadn’t but...don’t defend it please. ty [thank you]."
It came after a profuse series of apologies from Barr for her tweet early Tuesday which referred to former adviser to President Barack Obama Valerie Jarrett as a "child" of the "Muslim Brotherhood" and "Planet of the Apes." Jarrett, who is black, was born in Iran to American parents.
That caused ABC to cancel Barr's show in record time, leaving her out of a job before the close of business Tuesday.
Barr also criticized her co-stars overnight, including Michael Fishman, who played her son D.J. on her hit show "Roseanne" and its revival, for speaking out against her.
Fishman tweeted that he felt "devastated" by Barr's words, especially given that the staff of "Roseanne" had been so dedicated to storylines that strived for inclusiveness.
In response, Barr shot back: "i created the platform for that inclusivity and you know it. ME. You throw me under the bus. nice!"
She also furiously called out fellow co-star Sara Gilbert, who played her daughter Darlene, for expressing her disappointment.
"Wow! unreal," Barr replied.
Her tweets kept coming Wednesday morning, touching on everything from religion ("I'm a Jew making fun of Hitler, bigot," she defensively responded to a user who shared a photo of her from 2009, when she was slammed for posing as Hitler for a satirical magazine) to backing off from fully blaming the Ambien that she said she had taken. "i blamed myself. not ambien," she wrote.
Ambien, the brand name for zolpidem, and other sleeping pills are some of the most widely prescribed drugs in the United States. Zolpidem is classified by the Food and Drug Administration as a hypnotic and a host of serious side effects are associated with it, including memory problems; sleepwalking; and sleep eating, sleep cooking, and sleep driving.
And on Wednesday afternoon, Barr insisted she was "not a racist," tweeting: "I never was & I never will be."
"One stupid joke in a lifetime of fighting 4 civil rights 4 all minorities, against networks, studios. at the expense of my nerve system/family/wealth will NEVER be taken from me," she tweeted.
Twitter users immediately pounced on Barr's claim that her sleeping pill led her to write the offensive tweet.
"Ask your doctor if blaming Ambien for your racism is right for you," one wrote.
And Sanofi, the maker of Ambien, tweeted: "While all pharmaceutical treatments have side effects, racism is not a known side effect of any Sanofi medication."
Meanwhile, Trump finally weighed in on the issue Wednesday, tweeting just after 11:30 a.m. ET:
"Bob Iger [president] of ABC called Valerie Jarrett to let her know that “ABC does not tolerate comments like those” made by Roseanne Barr. Gee, he never called President Donald J. Trump to apologize for the HORRIBLE statements made and said about me on ABC. Maybe I just didn’t get the call?"
