'Straight Outta Compton' Star Defends Roseanne Barr At BET Awards

Ron Dicker
Updated

Support for Roseanne Barr came straight outta Jason Mitchell at the BET Awards on Sunday.

The “Straight Outta Compton” star had some surprising comments about the disgraced sitcom actress, whose successful “Roseanne” revival was canceled after her racist tweet about former Obama aide Valerie Jarrett.

Informed by Nischelle Turner of “Entertainment Tonight” on the red carpet that a new Roseanne spinoff without Barr was a go, Mitchell suggested Barr didn’t deserve the scorn.

“I think it’s tough that society has come to a place where like, we can’t even take a joke anymore, you know what I mean?” Mitchell said. “Like I grew up on ‘Roseanne’ and I don’t see no wrong on Roseanne. She’s a comedian. I mean, if we can’t take a joke, you know what I mean?”

Mitchell, who also appeared in “Mudbound,” added: “I want us to all get along, you know what I mean? I think we should all be able to coexist. And in the meantime, I’ll be able to joke about it because it’s funny.”

Barr, in an interview that made the rounds over the weekend, apologized again for the scandal and repeated the excuse that she had been taking Ambien sleeping pills at the time. She also said her comment was misconstrued, and claimed she didn’t realize Jarrett, whom she compared with a “Planet of the Apes” character, was black.

Barr claimed earlier this month that her tweet was about anti-Semitism.

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