Roseanne Barr is speaking out about 'Guardians of the Galaxy' director James Gunn's recent firing.
Roseanne Barr is speaking out about Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn's recent firing.
On Monday, the 65-year-old comedian denounced supporters for Gunn after the filmmaker's controversial tweets were resurfaced by conservative pundits and the website Daily Caller, and he was subsequently fired by Disney from directing Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3., the third installment of the successful Marvel franchise starring Chris Pratt. Nearly a decade old, the tweets include crude jokes about pedophilia and rape.
In a tweet, Barr pointed out what she believes is a double standard. Barr's hit sitcom, Roseanne, was canceled in May after she posted a racist tweet directed at Barack Obama's former White House adviser Valerie Jarrett.
"I’m disgusted to read all of the support for James Gunn’s pedophile jokes-as the same people supported blacklisting me for a joke they didn’t even understand," she wrote.
In a podcast with her good friend, Rabbi Schmuley, that was also posted on Monday, Barr said Gunn was one of the celebrities supporting ABC's decision to fire her at the time.
"He was one of the people that said ABC was right to fire me over my racist tweet," she commented. "He was one of them, but then it came back around, because what goes around comes around."
Barr continued to reiterate on the podcast that she was not "forgiven" for her racist tweet -- which read “Muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj,” referring to Jarrett, who is black and was born in Iran -- because she openly supported President Donald Trump.
"That was from the very beginning," Barr said of the opposition she faced in Hollywood. "It was very hard to fight and be the only one, you know, the assumptions they make, and I had to fight tons of them every day just to present a balanced view and it was waring on me in every way."
"I predicted the outcome that they would take down the only show on television that showed a Trump hater and a Hillary hater making peace and getting on with their lives," she continued. "I predicted that from the beginning that they would take that down, and they would take it down also because the issue of race was involved, and it was a race within the family -- a mixed family -- and they didn't like that either."
Meanwhile, amid the fallout from Gunn's firing, the director does appear to have the support of his Guardians of the Galaxy cast, including Pratt, Zoe Saldana and Dave Bautista. Gunn addressed the offensive tweets last week.
"Many people who have followed my career know when I started, I viewed myself as a provocateur, making movies and telling jokes that were outrageous and taboo," he tweeted. "As I have discussed publicly many times, as I’ve developed as a person, so has my work and my humor. It’s not to say I’m better, but I am very, very different than I was a few years ago; today I try to root my work in love and connection and less in anger. My days saying something just because it’s shocking and trying to get a reaction are over."
"I used to make a lot of offensive jokes. I don’t anymore," he continued. "I don’t blame my past self for this, but I like myself more and feel like a more full human being and creator today. Love to you all."
Watch the video below for more on Gunn's firing.
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