Roseanne Barr is firing back at her former co-star, calling him a “brainwashed bigot.”
During a recent appearance on the “Can’t Be Censored” podcast, the 73-year-old actress and comedian hit back at her former “Roseanne” co-star, Michael Fishman, after he said the 2018 reboot was “rightfully canceled.”
“He f—ing doesn’t even f—ing know what I said, even though I’ve explained it 10,000 times for nine years on the internet,” Barr said. “He hasn’t even taken the time to listen to what I say because he’s a bigot. And he’s a brainwashed bigot.”
The reboot of the hit ’90s show was a huge success when it premiered in March 2018 but was canceled just two months later after Barr tweeted a racist remark about Valerie Jarrett, a former advisor to former President Obama.
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Barr apologized for the remark multiple times. However, ABC decided to fire her and cancel the show. A month later, the network announced a new spin-off called “The Connors,” bringing back a majority of the “Roseanne” cast without any involvement from Barr.
The comedian went on to say that Fishman asked her about her comments “9,000” times before she told him to “go and f— yourself and stay f—ed ‘till the day you die.”
“Don’t put my name in your f—ng mouth; shut the f— up,” she recalled telling him. “You are an ignoramus and a bigot, and you have no idea what I said because it contradicts the Democratic Party platform that you’ve had shoved down your throat and up your a–. So, just f— you. You have no geopolitical context whatsoever to discuss what I said.”
Fishman fired back after Barr reignited their years-old feud, but the former child star appeared to take a different approach to the comedian’s blistering comments.
“I know everybody wants a response to Roseanne’s comments,” Fishman said in a statement shared on social media, before taking a moment to thank Barr for acknowledging that he did reach out to her after her 2018 controversy.
Fishman continued to explain that he showed Barr “compassion” during her scandal, even though he “vehemently disagreed” with her. He said that her memory of how she responded to his attempts to discuss the issue was accurate, and that he’d kept the things she said to him to himself “for her protection.”
“But I guess she gave you a glimpse into the darker side of my childhood,” he admitted, before adding that he does have “tremendous gratitude” for the time he spent working with her on the original show.
The actor, who played D.J. Conner on “Roseanne,” also reflected on the complicated nature of their relationship, saying, “I’m living something publicly that a lot of you have been navigating privately,” referring to the experience of “caring and loving someone who’s been a powerful part of your life and who’s changed and we don’t understand. And we don’t agree with it.”
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Despite the fallout, Fishman said he plans to respond with compassion rather than anger. “I’m going to choose to remember the best in them, and I’m also going to set some healthy boundaries for myself,” he said. “We get to decide who we are, and our actions show who we are.” He concluded his statement by saying, “I’m going to make art from the joy and the pain.”
In a recent interview with The New Yorker, Laurie Metcalf, who played Barr’s sister, Jackie Harris, on the show, said the two “haven’t spoken since we said goodbye at the end of the reboot.”
Barr confirmed she has not kept in touch with any of her former co-stars during an interview with Fox News Digital in June 2025.
“No, I’m not friends with none of them. They’re all in the past,” she said. “I have pleasant memories of what fun we had, wish them all the best. And, no, we don’t talk. I’ve moved on from that horrendous ending and chapter of my life, but you know, I don’t hold any bitterness or nothing to them. But, my God, what fun we had on that show.
“And I was sorry they f—ed it all up with their greed and ridiculous stupidity to f— all that up. F— them, but I wish them well.”
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When the show returned as “The Connors,” Barr’s absence was explained as being due to her character’s off-screen death.
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In her documentary, “Roseanne Barr is America,” the comedian revealed she turned down an opportunity to appear on an episode of the show after she was asked to guest star.
“They called me and asked me if I would like to come back as a guest star. You’re coming back as a ghost,” Barr said. “You’re asking me to come back to the show that you f—ing stole from me and killed my a–? And now you want me to show up because you got s— f—ing ratings and play a ghost?”
