Roseanne Barr has labeled her former "Roseanne" co-star Michael Fishman a "brainwashed bigot" following his assertion that the 2018 reboot was rightfully canceled. During an appearance on the "Can't Be Censored" podcast, the 73-year-old comedian launched into a profanity-laced tirade against Fishman, accusing him of never having listened to her explanations over the past nine years.
The conflict centers on the fate of the show, which premiered to strong reception in March 2018 before being canceled in May after Barr tweeted a racist remark regarding Valerie Jarrett, a former advisor to President Barack Obama. Although Barr issued multiple apologies, ABC fired her and ended the series. The network subsequently launched "The Connors," a spin-off that reunited the majority of the original cast without Barr's involvement.
Barr detailed her interactions with Fishman, claiming he asked her about the controversial comments 9,000 times before she told him to "go and f--- yourself and stay f---ed 'till the day you die." She recalled telling him he was an ignoramus who lacked the geopolitical context to discuss her words, arguing that his views contradicted the Democratic Party platform. "He hasn't even taken the time to listen to what I say because he's a bigot," Barr stated on the podcast.
The estrangement extends beyond Fishman. In an interview with The New Yorker, Laurie Metcalf, who played Barr's sister Jackie Harris, noted that the two have not spoken since saying goodbye at the end of the reboot. Barr confirmed in a June 2025 interview with Fox News Digital that she is not friends with any of her former co-stars. "No, I'm not friends with none of them. They're all in the past," she said. While she expressed pleasant memories of their time together, she stated she holds no bitterness toward them despite moving on from what she described as a horrendous ending.
Barr also criticized her former castmates for their handling of the transition to "The Connors." "I was sorry they f---ed it all up with their greed and ridiculous stupidity," she told Fox News Digital. In her documentary, "Roseanne Barr is America," she revealed that she turned down an invitation to guest star on the spin-off after being asked to return as a ghost, a role created to explain her absence from the series.