‘Roseanne Who?’ Valerie Jarrett Is Just Fine, Thanks For Asking

Valerie Jarrett and some lady Image by GETTY IMAGES/FORWARD MONTAGE
Valerie Jarrett sprang back into the public eye in May, when Roseanne Barr tweeted a deeply racist personal attack on her, resulting in her show “Roseanne” being cancelled.
But before that, Jarrett, the former advisor to President Obama, was trilingual, a senior law professor, a board member of an investment group, and an ongoing advisor to the Obama foundation. And now, she’s still all of those things.
“Roseanne who?” she laughed, asked about the incident Wednesday on The View. “Look, in all seriousness, as I said before, I’m fine. I am just fine.” Barr, who originally apologized (oddly,) has since released a second statement which is both more defensive and offensive.
“Now, if one of you said something like that about me, it might hurt my feelings, but this isn’t what keeps me up at night,” Jarrett chuckled to the hosts of The View. “What keeps me up at night are those families being separated on the border…or our children who go to school worrying about whether they’re going to be safe.” She gravely added, “These are the things that keep me up at night, not a racist tweet. Racist tweets and profane videos — not so much.”
Barr is set to give her first TV interview since the tweet, and her subsequent firing, on Thursday on Fox News’ Hannity, but Jarrett won’t be watching. “There are so many issues that are more important. I won’t be watching, and I hope you all won’t be watching either.”
Jenny Singer is the deputy lifestyle editor for the Forward. You can reach her at [email protected] or on Twitter @jeanvaljenny
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion The dangerous Nazi legend behind Trump’s ruthless grab for power
- 2
Opinion A Holocaust perpetrator was just celebrated on US soil. I think I know why no one objected.
- 3
Culture Did this Jewish literary titan have the right idea about Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling after all?
- 4
Opinion I first met Netanyahu in 1988. Here’s how he became the most destructive leader in Israel’s history.
In Case You Missed It
-
Culture I have seen the future of America — in a pastrami sandwich in Queens
-
Culture Trump wants to honor Hannah Arendt in a ‘Garden of American Heroes.’ Is this a joke?
-
Opinion Gaza and Trump have left the Jewish community at war with itself — and me with a bad case of alienation
-
Fast Forward Trump administration restores student visas, but impact on pro-Palestinian protesters is unclear
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.