Valerie Jarrett responds to Roseanne's racist tweet: 'We have to turn it into a teaching moment'

Valerie Jarrett.
(Image credit: Bryan Bedder/Getty Images)

In response to Roseanne Barr's racist tweet about her, Valerie Jarrett said she hopes that it can be used as a "teaching moment."

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Barr apologized to Jarrett and said her tweet was "in bad taste," but the backlash was swift and fierce, with ABC canceling the reboot of her show. Jarrett served as a senior adviser to former President Barack Obama and was a guest Tuesday at MSNBC's planned town hall, Everyday Racism in America, which will air tonight.

"I think we have to turn it into a teaching moment," Jarrett said. "I'm fine. I'm worried about all the people out there who don't have a circle of friends and followers who come right to their defense. The person who's walking down the street, minding their own business, and they see somebody cling to their purse or wanna cross the street, or every black parent I know who has a boy who has to sit down and have a conversation, 'The Talk,' as we call it." Jarrett said Disney President Bob Iger told her Roseanne was being canceled before it was publicly announced, and she supports the decision.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.