Roseanne Barr is accusing her former bosses at ABC of a “double standard” after Jimmy Kimmel returned to the air on Tuesday, September 23.
A revival of Barr’s sitcom, Roseanne, was canceled in 2018 following the star’s racist tweet about former Obama White House advisor Valerie Jarrett.
“It just shows how they think. I got my whole life ruined, no forgiveness, all of my work stolen, and called a racist for time and eternity, for racially misgendering someone,” Barr, 72, said in an interview with NewsNation on Tuesday as Kimmel’s late night talk show returned to the air after a six-day suspension. “It’s a double standard.”
Jimmy Kimmel Live! made its return on Tuesday after ABC “indefinitely” preempted the talk show last week amid right-wing criticism over Kimmel’s remarks about the suspect in Charlie Kirk’s killing. After President Donald Trump administration official Brendan Carr, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), suggested network station owners push back against ABC by not airing the program, media companies Nexstar and Sinclair — which, between them, own dozens of ABC-affiliated stations in the U.S. — said they would preempt the program. ABC subsequently put the show on hiatus nationwide.
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Addressing Kimmel, Barr alleged, “He called me a racist, even though I said repeatedly — which they repeatedly censored — that it was a mistake.” Referring to Jarrett, she added, “I thought that the woman was a white woman from Iran.”
“[Kimmel] called me a racist, even though he himself had appeared in Blackface on their network many times,” Barr further claimed. (Kimmel previously apologized in 2020 for appearing in Blackface on The Man Show, which aired between 1994 and 2004 on Comedy Central.)
Us Weekly has reached out to ABC and Kimmel’s representatives for comment.
Kimmel, 57, made an emotional return to his late night slot on ABC Tuesday night. “I never imagined I’d be in a situation like this,” he admitted in his opening monologue.
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The comedian also sought to clarify his comments that led to his suspension. “I’ve been hearing a lot about what I need to do and say tonight, and the truth is, I don’t think what I have to say is going to make much of a difference,” he said. “If you like me, you like me, if you don’t, I have no illusions of changing anyone’s mind, but I do want to make something clear because it’s important to me as a human: It was never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man. I don’t think there’s anything funny about it.”
He continued, “I posted a message on Instagram on the day [Charlie] was killed sending my love to his family asking for compassion, and I meant it and I still do. Nor was it my intention to blame any specific group for the actions of what was a deeply disturbed individual. That was actually the opposite of the point I was trying to make, but I understand to some that felt either ill-timed or unclear, or maybe both.”
