Hours after Roseanne Barr blamed her use of sleep medication Ambien for a racist tweet, the makers of the drug responded with a tweet of their own.
"People of all races, religions and nationalities work at Sanofi every day to improve the lives of people around the world," Sanofi US, the makers of Ambien, tweeted. "While all pharmaceutical treatments have side effects, racism is not a known side effect of any Sanofi medication."
Dictonary.com's Twitter account also trolled Barr's excuse, tweeting "The name Ambien is thought to come from the word "ambient" or similar words in French. Ambient does not mean "prone to making racist comments," but it does mean "of the surrounding area or environment.""
In a since-deleted tweeted on Tuesday night, Barr said she was "Ambien tweeting" when she sent a racist tweet about a former Obama aide Valerie Jarrett on the night of Memorial Day.
"guys I did something unforgiveable (sic) so do not defend me. It was 2 in the morning and I was ambien tweeting-it was memorial day too-i went 2 far & do not want it defeneded-it was egregious Indefensible. I made a mistake I wish I hadn't but...don't defend it please. ty," Barr tweeted Tuesday evening. That tweet had been deleted by Wednesday morning.
The tweet about Jarrett, in which Barr called her child of "the muslim brotherhood and the Planet of the Apes" resulted in the cancellation of Barr's show, "Roseanne," which was slated for a second reboot season and one of the highest rated shows on network TV.
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.
— Sanofi US (@SanofiUS) May 30, 2018
The name Ambien is thought to come from the word "ambient" or similar words in French. Ambient does not mean "prone to making racist comments," but it does mean "of the surrounding area or environment." https://t.co/UpYY5eKzIo https://t.co/XsPn8FthV5
— Dictionary.com (@Dictionarycom) May 30, 2018
Alex Hider is a writer for the E.W. Scripps National Desk. Follow him on Twitter @alexhider.
