The Conners cast has been vocal about where they stand with Roseanne Barr after working with her for decades before moving on with the hit sitcom without her.
Roseanne, which originally aired on ABC from 1988 to 1997, followed the Conner family as they dealt with trials and tribulations as a working-class family. Barr starred as Roseanne Conner while John Goodman played her onscreen husband, Dan Conner. Their family was expanded with Roseanne’s sister, Jackie (Laurie Metcalf) and Roseanne and Dan’s kids: Darlene (Sara Gilbert), Becky (Lecy Goranson) and D.J. (Michael Fishman).
After the Roseanne sitcom was briefly revived in 2018, it was canceled in the wake of Barr’s controversial social media posts. ABC Entertainment President Channing Dungey released a statement at the time that announced the network’s decision to pull Roseanne off the air.
“Roseanne’s Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant, and inconsistent with our values,” Dungey noted after Barr issued an apology. ABC subsequently removed all references to the revival series on its press site and Viacom pulled all reruns of the sitcom’s entire run from all of its channels.
As The Conners comes to an end, some characters from the Roseanne universe are expected to reprise their roles in the seventh and final season — but which aren’t returning? Roseanne originally aired on ABC from 1988 to 1997. After being briefly revived in 2018 — and after star Roseanne Barr’s eventual exit from the […]
Roseanne was transformed into The Conners, which was a spinoff created without Barr’s involvement. It ran for seven seasons — and even mentioned Barr’s character numerous times — but Barr never returned on screen.
“I just can’t bear it, so I don’t [watch],” Barr told the Los Angeles Times in February 2023. “When they killed my character off, that was a message to me, knowing that I’m mentally ill or have mental health issues, that they did want me to commit suicide.”
She continued: “They killed my character. … And all of that was to say thank you for bringing 28 million viewers, which they never had before and will never see again. Because they can kiss my ass.”
Barr has called out how The Conners referenced her character before the 2025 series finale. The actress, who moved to Texas, has also publicly called out several of her former costars — but where do The Conners stars stand with Barr now?
Keep scrolling for an update on what each cast member of The Conners said about Barr since her exit and various controversies:
John Goodman
After playing her onscreen husband for 10 seasons, Goodman made a rare comment about Barr’s firing.
“I’ll put it this way, I was surprised at the response,” Goodman said in 2018 after the aftermath of Barr’s controversial social media posts. “And that’s probably all I should say about it. … I know for a fact that she’s not a racist.”
Goodman addressed the controversy again years later, telling Variety in 2023, “No [I don’t regret defending her at the time]. I remember attending some kind of junket where they saw the pilot, and then the interviews, and it just turned into an attack. It made me really uncomfortable witnessing them go after Roseanne.”
He continued: “Yeah, I felt bad for her. And then, I just feel terrible about the whole thing. You know, we had a great time. And I love her. She’s just her own person.”
Goodman admitted he was unsure that he would work with Barr again. “I don’t know,” he told the outlet. “If she’d like to … I just don’t know. I miss her. I wish her well.”
Despite Roseanne Barr‘s absence from The Conners, her character was still front and center on the final season. Roseanne originally aired on ABC from 1988 to 1997. After being briefly revived in 2018 — and after Barr’s eventual exit from the series amid controversial social media posts — the story transformed into The Conners. The […]
Laurie Metcalf
Shortly after Roseanne was canceled in 2018, Barr made a pointed show of support for Metcalf and Goodman, writing via Twitter, “I just wish ABC had not thrown two of the greatest actors in the world out with me — Laurie and John. I’m so sick over this — they will never have better character actors on their network.”
Metcalf told People later that year that both she and Gilbert reached out to Barr but hadn’t heard back “yet” after The Conners was ordered to series by ABC.
Sara Gilbert
Speaking of Gilbert, the actress immediately called Barr’s online comments “abhorrent” and not a reflection of the “cast and crew or anyone associated with our show.” Barr subsequently said on SiriusXM’s The Megyn Kelly Show that she felt “stabbed” in the back by Gilbert.
“It was her tweet that canceled the show,” Barr claimed in the 2023 interview. “And then she tweeted, ‘It’s sad when one cast member,’ something about racist, blah, blah. And I was floored. I was just floored.”
Gilbert didn’t publicly address Barr’s comments at the time.
Lecy Goranson
“It was just so surreal and shocking and sad,” Goranson told E! News in 2018 about Roseanne coming to an end after Barr’s tweets. “Whatever you want to call it, it is racist, that being said I don’t think Roseanne is a racist, I think that is racist.”
She continued: “I still don’t quite understand what she was trying to say. I don’t understand what the logic is. No one’s explained to me what it was supposed to mean, and I felt so confused by that. I really did.”
More recently, Goranson praised The Conners for finding a way to pay tribute to Barr’s character.
“It’s a really interesting thing. [The idea of] when to bring her up, how it has been through the series is when it seems right. There’s touches of it without really landing on it and making it super heavy,” she exclusively told Us Weekly in March 2025. “We’ve had people have feelings about the show since Roseanne left. But with what we have, it’s been really, really tasteful and well done, so I’m proud of it.”
Roseanne fans have been keeping up with the Conner family since the 1980s, from the original sitcom to its short-lived revival and hit spinoff, The Conners. The ABC series premiered in October 1988 and followed the lives of Roseanne (Roseanne Barr), Dan (John Goodman) and Roseanne’s sister, Jackie (Laurie Metcalf), as well as the couple’s […]
Michael Fishman
“Today is one of the hardest in my life,” Fishman tweeted in 2018 while notably aiming to “condemn” Barr’s posts. “[The Roseanne revival] was designed to represent the inclusive nature of my views. To represent portions of society often marginalized.”
Barr addressed Fishman’s message, replying, “I created the platform for that inclusivity and you know it. ME. You throw me under the bus. Nice!”
In response, Fishman stood by his decision to speak out against Barr’s viewers, writing, “You fought, built, and designed Roseanne for inclusiveness. That is why yesterday was so out of character with the last 30 years. It was in your hands from the beginning to the end. No one can deny that.”
Emma Kenney
“As I called my manager to quit working on Roseanne, I was told it was cancelled,” Kenney tweeted in 2018. “I feel so empowered by @iamwandasykes, Channing Dungey and anyone at ABC standing up for morals and abuse of power. Bullies will NEVER win.”
She continued: “I am hurt, embarrassed, and disappointed. The racist and distasteful comments from Roseanne are inexcusable.”
Kenney remained on The Conners until the final season. “I liked the way my character Harris’ story ends and I could definitely envision the rest of her life if it were to be on camera too,” she told Us in March 2025. “[The writers have] known all of these characters for so long now. I knew they were going to do all of the characters justice.”
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