According to the American Addiction Centers, side effects for taking Ambien include rapid heartbeat, inability to concentrate, and allergic reactions. Nowhere in there does it mention “being bad at Twitter,” and yet. Roseanne Barr, who shockingly had her hit show canceled by ABC on Monday, blamed her show-ending tweet on the sleep aid. “I did something unforgivable so do not defend me,” she wrote. “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 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.”
In one of her other deleted tweets, Barr said “I’m sorry 4 my tweet, AND I will also defend myself as well as talk to my followers. so, go away if u don’t like it. I will handle my sadness the way I want to. I’m tired of being attacked & belittled more than other comedians who have said worse.” (Via)
Ambien is currently Twitter’s number-one trending topic, mostly because no one believes Barr’s excuse. Or as CNN’s John Berman put it, “I have only taken Ambien once… but I don’t remember one of the side-effects being racism.”
(Chanting)
WE! JUST! TOOK! AMBIEN! pic.twitter.com/esu3IMj8gu— Jason O. Gilbert (@gilbertjasono) May 30, 2018
Who among us hasn’t taken Ambien, sleepwalked down to the fridge, and posted dozens of racist tweets over several years
— Jess Dweck (@TheDweck) May 30, 2018
Thank you, Roseanne. Now that I know Ambien causes overt racism, I'm going to stick with the subtle microaggressions of Nyquil.
— Nick Jack Pappas (@Pappiness) May 30, 2018
I guess David Duke has been on ambien his entire life
— Roland Scahill (@rolandscahill) May 30, 2018
https://twitter.com/lukeoneil47/status/1001793387144646660
When you are awake at 4:30 in the morning for no GD reason and you check Twitter to find that (on the day you need her most) your good pal Ambien is being dragged through the mud pic.twitter.com/Uw7OB4ZYy1
— Anna Kendrick (@AnnaKendrick47) May 30, 2018
https://twitter.com/OhNoSheTwitnt/status/1001766259833352192
How does that old saying go? “Ambien brings out the racist in all of us?”
— Josh Gad (@joshgad) May 30, 2018
https://twitter.com/BillCorbett/status/1001796737143590913
https://twitter.com/bendreyfuss/status/1001781256064036865
https://twitter.com/wereallmadhereD/status/1001785284797894656
The “woke” jokes write themselves, but they’re still hilarious.
https://twitter.com/ashleyn1cole/status/1001809899070816256
(Via CNN)