What was the content of Roseanne Barr's racist tweet about Valerie Jarrett?
Executive summary
Roseanne Barr posted a now-deleted tweet in May 2018 that explicitly compared former Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett to an ape, writing in plain text that “muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby = vj,” a line widely reported as the offending phrase and condemned as racist [1] [2]. The one-line post set off immediate backlash, an apology from Barr, and swift corporate consequences including ABC canceling the revival of her sitcom [3] [4].
1. The exact wording that sparked the uproar
The widely cited, since-deleted tweet read, in Barr’s own characters, “muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj,” which directly tied Jarrett’s initials “vj” to an image of a union between the Muslim Brotherhood and the fictional apes from Planet of the Apes — a comparison many outlets identified as dehumanizing and racist [1] [2].
2. Immediate fallout and corporate response
Within hours of the tweet, ABC publicly condemned Barr’s statement as “abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values” and announced the cancellation of the Roseanne revival, actions that were reported as direct consequences of the tweet rather than a broader inventory of Barr’s past conduct [3] [5].
3. Barr’s apology and subsequent defenses
Barr issued an apology saying “I apologize to Valerie Jarrett and to all Americans,” while also posting follow-up tweets in which she first attempted to downplay the comment as a “joke” and later offered explanations including that she had been “Ambien tweeting” at 2 a.m., an assertion she and others repeated in interviews [1] [6]. In later years Barr gave other rationales — including saying the impulse to post came from “God” — which media outlets reported but which sit apart from the contemporaneous apology and do not alter the content of the original tweet [7] [8].
4. Why the phrasing was widely labeled racist
Journalists, civil-rights figures and commentators described the tweet as racist because it compared an African-American public official to apes, a historically loaded dehumanizing trope, and because it invoked the Muslim Brotherhood in a way that conflated religion and ethnicity to attack Jarrett’s identity; outlets and commentators characterized the combination as vitriolic and racially charged [2] [5]. Fact-checking context noted Jarrett is not a member of the Muslim Brotherhood and that claims about her being Muslim were unsubstantiated, underscoring that the tweet’s premise was inaccurate in addition to being demeaning [4].
5. Valerie Jarrett’s response and broader civic framing
Jarrett urged turning the episode into a “teaching moment,” emphasizing the need for the public to push back against racially charged rhetoric, and public figures such as the Rev. Jesse Jackson publicly defended her integrity and criticized the mocking nature of the tweet [5] [9]. Media coverage framed the incident both as a standalone act by Barr and as part of a wider conversation about racism and accountability in public discourse [2] [4].
6. How reporting treated the tweet over time and lingering debates
Coverage at the time and in retrospectives has consistently reproduced the tweet’s text verbatim when describing the incident and has documented the chain of consequences — apology, explanations invoking Ambien or spiritual inspiration, and the show’s cancellation — while noting divergent views: some critics emphasize clear racism and corporate responsibility, while Barr and some defenders contested intent or blamed external factors like medication or divine prompting [1] [6] [7]. Reporting limitations: the primary sources in the provided set document the tweet, response and fallout but do not settle the question of Barr’s inner intent beyond her own later statements, so assessments that rely on motive remain contested in public record [8] [6].