(JTA) — Roseanne Barr reportedly cried and apologized for her racist tweet in a podcast interview with Rabbi Shmuley Boteach.
Barr “was sobbing and very apologetic about the whole thing,” according to the Hollywood Reporter, which cited an unnamed source. Boteach did not air the interview.
The call in to the podcast came two days after ABC canceled her show last week over the tweet mocking Valerie Jarrett, a former adviser to President Barack Obama and an African-American. The tweet said the “muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj.”
The reboot of Barr’s immensely popular late 20th-century sitcom had drawn high ratings.
Barr later deleted the tweet about Jarrett, which drew widespread criticism, and issued an apology, saying she had made “a bad joke about her politics and her looks.”
Barr, who is Jewish, and Boteach, a rabbi to several stars, have been friends for 20 years. She has not given any in-depth interviews on the tweets and her firing.
On Saturday evening, Boteach tweeted about the interview: “I did record a podcast with my friend @therealroseanne & I have decided not to release it out of respect for Roseanne. I want to give her space to reflect on the recent events and releasing the recording is a decision she will make at the appropriate time.”
He also tweeted: “I have known @therealroseanne for 20 years. She has apologized for what she acknowledges is a violation of Torah values & in the spirit of Jewish repentance. It is time America learned to forgive so that we may together affirm the image of God, and equal dignity of all humankind.”
Barr canceled a planned appearance on comedian Joe Rogan’s podcast that had been scheduled for Friday.
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