What began as a major television comeback for Roseanne Barr ended in controversy in 2018 when a racist tweet about Valerie Jarrett cost the comedian her job and Roseanne its revival.
Michael Fishman regularly revisits his years playing Roseanne Conner’s son, DJ Conner, on social media. But when one fan questioned the fallout that got Barr fired from the Roseanne reboot, Fishman wasn’t about to let it slide.
The fan argued that Barr was unfairly targeted:
“The reboot got canceled because Roseanne made the usual jokes a comedian makes, but America decided to backstab Roseanne. At the time, the LGBTQ and woke crap took over and started destroying anything it could…”
The controversy erupted after Barr posted a now-deleted tweet comparing Valerie Jarrett, who is Black, to the offspring of the "Muslim Brotherhood & Planet of the Apes.”
The commenter continued, defending Barr’s brand of comedy:
“Roseanne was one of the people that all of a sudden got flack for remaining to be a edgy comedian. Funny thing is, even if she was racist, she had already said more egregious jokes, and nobody batted an eye before.”
The backlash was swift. Roseanne co-stars and crew members, including Sara Gilbert and consulting producer Wanda Sykes, publicly condemned Barr. ABC Entertainment President Channing Dungey soon pulled the plug on the successful revival, calling Barr’s statement “abhorrent, repugnant, and inconsistent with our values.”
That history appears to have made the fan’s defense of Barr particularly hard for Fishman to ignore:
“I get this, every day, I get these kinds of ignorant and inaccurate comments daily. Mostly, I try to ignore them. For over eight years, I’ve been dealing with it quietly. Usually, I don’t respond.”
Fishman’s relationship with Roseanne Barr extended beyond their years on the original sitcom and into its revival.
He continued:
“So, I guess the world failed to learn the lesson, so I’m going to point out—we are perpetuating a lie and people are using a political smoke screen to justify the indefensible.”
That relationship fractured after Barr’s controversial 2018 tweets and the revival’s cancellation. Fishman publicly condemned her remarks, prompting Barr to accuse him of throwing her “under the bus” and telling him to leave her alone.
Reiterating that Barr herself had called her remarks “indefensible,” Fishman pushed back on attempts to justify them:
“Those justifications, they’re leading to real consequences. Real crime situations like Trey Reed and Tasha Fortune, because dehumanizing people is never a joke.”
Barr has since said she is no longer friends with her former castmates, while Fishman has maintained that the consequences she faced were justified—even as he continues to express compassion for her.
He acknowledged that complicated history with Barr:
“Good people make mistakes. And I love the one who made this mistake. I always will... But there was no joke. There’s only damage and dehumanizing, and perpetuating racial tropes. Leads to real-world consequences”
Fishman had an even sharper message for commenters defending racist or hateful rhetoric, telling them to “shut the hell up.”
You can view his remarks here:
Commenters were divided over Fishman’s response. Some applauded him for pushing back against attempts to excuse Barr’s remarks, while others defended Barr and challenged his take.
See how the conversation unfolded below:
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John Goodman offered a different perspective on his former co-star. Although he initially kept a low profile after ABC canceled Roseanne, Goodman later said Barr was “missed” on The Conners and maintained that he knew “for a fact” she was not a racist.
That defense contradicts a longer history of inflammatory remarks and imagery from Barr. In 2013, she targeted then-U.S. National Security Advisor Susan Rice in a since-deleted tweet, writing, “Susan Rice is a man with big swinging ape balls”—invoking the same racist ape trope that would later fuel outrage over her remarks about Jarrett.
Barr also drew criticism in 2009 after posing as Adolf Hitler for a satirical Heeb magazine photo shoot, complete with a mustache and swastika armband. Years later, she sparked another backlash after appearing to accuse Parkland school shooting survivor David Hogg of giving a Nazi salute at a 2018 gun-control rally in Washington, D.C., writing “NAZI SALUTE” in a since-deleted tweet.
For Fishman, the issue is bigger than his complicated history with Barr. His response centered on a simple point: Calling harmful rhetoric a joke doesn’t erase its impact.
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