As you have probably heard by now, Roseanne Barr's revival of her popular sitcom, Roseanne, was canceled by ABC on Tuesday soon after the star's racist remarks about Valerie Jarrett, a senior adviser to former president Barack Obama.
Barr compared Jarrett, a black woman, to a character form Planet of the Apes, prompting ABC executives to scrap her show, even though it had been renewed weeks before due to its impressive ratings.
Barr apologized to Jarrett and released a contrite statement through her publicist.
Then Tuesday night, Barr attempted to explain her remarks: "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."
Well, those comments were soon the subject of mockery on Twitter.
The new warning label on Ambien:
(Yes, this is a real, old photo of Barr.)
People sarcastically suggested Ambien was to blame for other racist outbursts, like the white nationalist march that took place on University of Virginia's campus last year.
(Chanting) WE! JUST! TOOK! AMBIEN!
Or the KKK.
early Ambien users
And here we have a crowd of sleepy people proudly waving the Confederate flag.
Trippin' on Ambien.
As you can see, no punches were pulled.
Ambien makes you racist? No wonder some of y’all can’t get woke. 😛
And THEN the pharmaceutical company behind the sedative Ambien, Sanofi, issued a shady statement Wednesday.
"While all pharmaceutical treatments have side effects, racism is not a known side effect of any Sanofi medication," the company said on Twitter.
People of all races, religions and nationalities work at Sanofi every day to improve the lives of people around the world. While all pharmaceutical treatments have side effects, racism is not a known side effect of any Sanofi medication.
However, the drug's side effects do include a warning about "abnormal thinking and behavioral changes," including decreased inhibition and "bizarre behavior."
And though the company didn't address Barr directly, people read between the lines.
@SanofiUS
Don't say you weren't warned!
guys i went and rewatched the ambien commercial and whoa