Avideo of Rosanne Barr saying she had been “raped” by President Joe Biden in a skit mocking E. Jean Carroll’s sex assault lawsuit against Donald Trump has sparked outrage online.
The clip is a clear spoof of the circumstances of Carroll’s sex attack allegations for which Trump has been found substantially liable, and has been described as “vile” in online comments after it was posted on X, formerly Twitter, on April 22.
The footage shows Barr bracing herself against a department store wall with a hand placed on her cheek in faux distress, as one of her sons asks off-camera: “What happened, mom? We’re at Bergdorf. Are you OK? You look very shook.”
“No, I’m not OK because I just had a horrible flashback, a horrible memory,” the former Roseanne star responds. “Right now, I realized that 26 years ago Joe Biden raped me right here in that dressing room in the shoe department where I went and changed my shoes.”
After motioning to the dressing room in question, Barr continues: “He raped me in here. Joe Biden, he raped me right here in the shoe department at Bergdorf-Goodman.”
After her son asks again if she is “OK,” Barr says: “No, I’m not. I need to sue.”
Captioning the footage, Barr shared a range of hashtags, writing: “#believeallwomen. #meshoe #bergdorfdressingroom #loosemeat.”
Newsweek has contacted representatives of Biden, Carroll, Trump, and Barr via email for comment.
Former Elle columnist Carroll, 80, sued Trump, 77, for battery, as well as defamation over comments he made while denying allegations that he raped her in a dressing room in New York City department store Bergdorf Goodman in the 1990s. In May 2023, a jury found Trump civilly liable of sexually abusing Carroll but not of rape, and Carroll was awarded $5 million in damages.
One day after the civil trial ruling, Trump appeared at a CNN town hall where he once again attacked and insulted Carroll, calling her a “whack job,” while denying that he had ever met her. He also suggested the abuse claim was a “made-up story.”
In January, Trump was subsequently ordered to pay Carroll a further $83.3 million for his comments. Trump has posted a $91.6 million bond for an appeal.
Trump countersued Carroll, saying that the jury had decided her rape allegation was false. In August 2023, Judge Lewis Kaplan dismissed the counterclaim, saying that rape and sexual assault are both “felonious sex crimes”. He added that Carroll’s allegations have been shown to be “substantially true.”
Barr’s clip sparked a wave of outrage among X users. One responded: “You are a horrible person for this vileness. Sexual assault is not a comedy skit.”
“I would never insult a sexual assault victim,” Barr, who is an avowed Trump supporter, wrote back. “I was talking about E. Jean Carroll.”
“This isn’t even comedy,” another detractor commented. “Why would you post this? Make light of any woman being raped or assaulted by a man? This is vile, despicable, and unbecoming. Do better please! #BeBest.”
“I would never make fun of Someone who was raped,” Barr said in response.
Political commentator Brian Krassenstein was among the more prominent X users criticizing Barr, writing: I get it that Roseanne is a comedian and you can’t take anything that she says seriously because of that… But mocking E. Jean Carroll, whom a court found was actually sexually assaulted by Donald Trump and joking about rape isn’t a good look at all in my opinion.
“I would say that Trump surrogates, of whom I consider Roseanne one, are hurting Trump by doing things like this, but in all honestly I don’t know if any MAGA supporter is actually turned off by this. Are you?”
Roseanne Barr jokes about rape because she’s a disgusting piece of s***,” read another post on the micro-blogging platform. “America should have canceled Roseanne when she grabbed her crotch after singing the national anthem.”
Another weighed in: “Imagine saying ‘ok, son. You ready to hit record? …and GO!’ so you could post a video ‘jokingly’ discrediting a victim? Roseanne Barr is as big a tool as we thought she was. Worse even.
Sharing his point of view on the matter, former NBC senior executive Mike Sington branded Barr a “horrible, vile, and disgusting person.”
Singer-songwriter Ricky Davila also blasted Barr, stating: “Deranged MAGA has-been Roseanne Barr is a disgusting piece of s*** who just mocked rape victims by falsely accusing President Biden for laughs because she’s sick scumbag.”
While one detractor called Barr “the lowest of the low,” another said that the TV personality “needs professional help. She is making a mockery of all women that have been [sexually assaulted]. Shame on her.”
Barr also received support for her post, with one X user writing: “Gotta love Roseanne….. Obviously she’s joking… but she has triggered the left while showing just how ridiculous this case against Donald Trump really is.”
“Roseanne cracks me up,” read one comment, while another said: “I didn’t realize how triggered the lib loons are over Roseanne’s video today! She is an absolute genius.”
Wrote another: “Roseanne seems far more credible & she has the same amount of proof (none). If Biden denies it, sue him for defamation. That’s the new standard. The rules apply to all men, not just Donald Trump, right?”
Barr became a trending topic on X as users gathered to share their opinions on the video. Making note of the wave of attention, Barr responding to a screenshot of her name moving up the social media platform’s rankings.
“Art should be dangerous and thought provoking. Glad to see it!” the comedian replied, adding in a follow-up post: “Especially under a fascist establishment.”
Last year, Barr returned to the spotlight with her stand-up special Roseanne Barr: Cancel This!. Barr said that she was essentially banished from Hollywood in May 2018, after she tweeted that the “Muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby,” referring to Valerie Jarrett—a former senior adviser to former President Barack Obama—who is Black.
Barr said at the time that she wouldn’t have tweeted the joke had she known Jarrett was Black, and that she would have apologized on air, but ABC decided to fire her from her show, Roseanne, before she could. The network brought the show back as The Connors, with her lead character killed off.
The TV personality had been a staunch progressive earlier in her career, once protesting at an Occupy Wall Street rally and running for president first for the Green Party and later the Peace and Freedom Party. In 2016, she voted for Trump.
When asked in December by Newsweek why, in the face of mounting scrutiny and backlash, Barr continues to publicly share her political takes, the comedian responded: “It’s important for me to keep speaking because I can’t let the f****** win. That’s why.”
