After Roseanne Barr blamed “Ambien tweeting” for a racial slur against former Obama administration adviser Valerie Jarrett, Ambien’s maker, Sanofi, responded with its own tweet.
Acting quickly, Sanofi tweeted from the @SanofiUS handle:
“People of all races, religions and nationalities work at Sanofi every day to improve the lives of people around the world. While all pharmaceutical treatments have side effects, racism is not a known side effect of any Sanofi medication.”
In less than 48 hours, the tweet amassed 67,000 retweets and 181,000 likes.
ABC canceled the revival of "Roseanne" on Tuesday, calling Barr’s tweet “abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values."
Ambien was first approved by the FDA in 1992, and lost patent protection in 2007.