Roseanne Barr podcast episode removed for violating YouTube's policy on hate speech
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Roseanne Barr is back in the news for making incendiary comments.
During a guest appearance on comedian Theo Von's This Past Weekend podcast, Barr made jokes about the Holocaust that circulated on social media and sparked outrage. Days after the clip went viral, YouTube has determined that the podcast episode violates its policies prohibiting hate speech.
The video version of the podcast is no longer available on YouTube. In its place is a message that reads, "This video has been removed for violating YouTube's policy on hate speech." The episode is still available on all other platforms, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
The two-and-a-half-hour interview was released on June 14 but went viral on Tuesday because of a segment with Barr and Von discussing internet misinformation policies. After condemning claims that the 2022 election was rigged, the former Roseanne star attempted a sarcastic antisemitic rant to make her point.
"There's such a thing as the truth and facts, and we have to stick to it," Barr said to Von. "And that is the truth. And nobody died in the holocaust, either. That's the truth. It should happen. Six million Jews should die right now 'cause they cause all the problems in the world. But it never happened."
Rachel Luna/Getty Roseanne Barr
Von later responded to the outrage by defending the comedian on Twitter.
"This Roseanne Barr clip was sarcasm folks," Von wrote. "A clip taken out of a long sarcastic rant she had during our chat. Can we not recognize sarcasm anymore?"
In a follow-up tweet, Von posted a longer clip of their conversation to provide context for Barr's comments. "Here is the full clip of Roseanne Barr obviously using sarcasm and satire," he wrote. "She is a mensch and one of the funniest people I've ever met."
Here is the full clip of Roseanne Barr obviously using sarcasm and satire. She is a mensch and one of the funniest people i've ever met. pic.twitter.com/p0K6pWEqr8
— Theo Von (@TheoVon) June 27, 2023
This is far from Barr's first controversy. In 2018, her sitcom reboot was axed by ABC after a racist tweet. In the now deleted post, Barr likened former Barack Obama advisor Valerie Jarrett to "if muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby."
Barr later dismissed her cancellation as "witch burning." In her 2022 documentary, Roseanne: Kicked Out of Hollywood, she added: "Witch-burning is what it is. Intellectual witch-burning, and arrogance and ignorance. All of the press of the United States and the world, how they interpreted my tweet without any knowledge of the fact that I was sending it to a journalist in Iran about what was happening to the people in Iran. We're under such terrible censorship. It's just terrible and frightening."
Months after Roseanne's cancellation came the spin-off, The Conners, which has been renewed for a sixth season.
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