Roseanne Barr Blames Ambien For Racist Rant; Drugmaker Fires Back: 'Racism Is Not A Known Side Effect'

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Actress Roseanne Barr is blaming Ambien for a string of racist tweets that prompted ABC to cancel her hit show.

In a since deleted string of tweets, Barr sought to explain the racist Twitter rant that led to her show's cancellation; a tweet in which she compared former Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett to an ape.

"guys I did something unforgiveable 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 defended -- it was egregious Indefensible. I made a mistake I wish I hadn't but...don't defend it please," she tweeted.

She cited Ambien again in a later tweet, saying, "Not giving excuses for what I did(tweeted) but I've done weird stuff while on ambien -- cracked eggs on the wall at 2am etc."

Sanofi, the maker of Ambien, responded with a statement full of shade: "While all pharmaceutical treatments have side effects, racism is not a known side effect of any Sanofi medication."

While Barr has since deleted her initial tweets about the medication, Ambien quickly became the top trending topic on Twitter on Wednesday, prompting Sanofi's response. Barr has since tweeted that she wasn't blaming Ambien for what she said.

"Yes, I have had odd ambien experiences on tweeting late at night-like many other ppl do. I BLAME MYSELF OK? it's just an explanation not an excuse," she wrote.

It was an earlier Barr tweet about former Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett that set off the firestorm, and led to her show's demise.

In a response to a comment about Jarrett, Barr had said: "Muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj."

After deleting her initial tweet about Jarrett, Barr apologized and claimed she was leaving Twitter, but hasn't been able to stop tweeting. Within hours of her comments about Jarrett, ABC announced it was cancelling "Roseanne" because of her comments.

Jarrett, now a law professor at the University of Chicago, has said the incident should be a teachable moment.

During a town hall meeting on Tuesday, Jarrett stated, "I'm fine. I'm worried about all the people out there who don't have a circle of friends and followers that come right to their defense."