Drugmaker to Roseanne: Racism not among Ambien's many side effects

Posted May 30, 2018 1:00 am

By Naomi Kresge Bloomberg

Sanofi's sleeping pill Ambien has a long list of potential side effects, from dizziness to diarrhea to a midnight food binge. Racism is not among them, the French drugmaker said on Wednesday.

Sanofi responded after Roseanne Barr blamed "Ambien tweeting" for a racial slur against former Obama administration adviser Valerie Jarrett. "I've done weird stuff while on Ambien - cracked eggs on the wall at 2 a.m. etc.," Barr, 65, said in a tweet that has since been deleted.

"People of all races, religions and nationalities work at Sanofi every day to improve the lives of people around the world," Sanofi's U.S. public-relations team tweeted on Wednesday. "While all pharmaceutical treatments have side effects, racism is not a known side effect of any Sanofi medication."

ABC dropped its revival of "Roseanne," Barr's 1990s hit, after Barr described Jarrett as the offspring of the Muslim Brotherhood and "Planet of the Apes." Jarrett, who is black, is not a follower of Islam.

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