Roseanne Barr is renewing her public feud with former co-star Michael Fishman, calling him a “brainwashed bigot” after he said the 2018 reboot of “Roseanne” was “rightfully canceled.”
The 73-year-old comedian made the remarks during a recent appearance on the “Can’t Be Censored” podcast, saying Fishman never bothered to understand her side of the controversy that ended her career on the show.
“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 popular 1990s sitcom drew huge ratings when it premiered in March 2018 but was canceled just two months later after Barr posted a racist tweet about Valerie Jarrett, a former adviser to President Obama. Barr apologized for the remark multiple times, but ABC fired her and canceled the show outright. A month later, the network launched a spin-off, “The Connors,” retaining most of the original cast without Barr’s involvement.
Barr said Fishman had pressed her about the controversy repeatedly 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—ing mouth; shut the f— up,” Barr 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.”
The rift extends beyond Fishman. Laurie Metcalf, who played Barr’s on-screen sister Jackie Harris, told The New Yorker in a recent interview that the two “haven’t spoken since we said goodbye at the end of the reboot.”
Barr confirmed in a June 2025 interview with Fox News Digital that she has cut ties with her former castmates entirely.
“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.”
She added: “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.”
When “The Connors” launched, Barr’s absence was written into the plot as her character’s off-screen death. In her documentary “Roseanne Barr is America,” Barr revealed she had been asked to return as a guest star on the spin-off — but only as a ghost, an offer she rejected.
“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?”
