It was in 2018 that ABC canceled the Roseanne revival due to a controversial tweet shared by its star, Roseanne Barr. While it seemed as though the franchise was essentially done by that point, the producers eventually struck a deal to produce a spin-off/continuation series, The Conners. Before that could move forward, however, the network had to settle business affairs with Barr. The actress/stand-up comedian recently reflected on the conversation she had with top brass, and she claimed the promises made to her were not held up.
Considering the immense level of creative control Barr had over her eponymous sitcom (which is now streamable with a Peacock subscription), she had to sign off on the new show. The Cancel This! headliner looked back on the situation while discussing her new show, Meemaw: A Modern Day Fable, with THR. Barr remembered that she was contacted by the Alphabet Network and learned of the plans to produce an offshoot of her show. She also claimed she was presented with a choice:
ABC demanded that they would only make [the show] if I were not [in it]. And they called me and said, ‘You have a choice to make: You can sign off on letting us do a show without you [or everyone is out of a job.]’
For the show that eventually became The Conners, the focus would shift to the remaining members of the titular Lanford, Illinois-based family, while its matriarch would be killed off. During her recent interview, Barr said she eventually spoke to producer Tom Werner, and she apparently expressed her concern about how the tweet was affecting her public image. Barr claimed Werner promised to publicly refute the notion that she was a racist, and he supposedly made another pledge involving her former colleagues:
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The only thing that mattered to me at the time is I said, ‘I want you to say I’m not a racist and that you know I’m not a racist and that my whole life has been about fighting racism and that you know it.’ And [Werner] said, “I will do that once you sign away your rights. And also I promise you, if you sign away your rights for this season, that we’ll make sure that everybody knows you did it to save the jobs of the crew.’
With that, Roseanne Barr decided to give the show her official OK, though she now says those promises weren’t fulfilled. Barr was also asked if she received any kind of payment as a result of The Conners’ run, and she shared the following response:
Nope. It was all a trick.
Barr also discussed her viral tweet, in which she insulted former Barack Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett. In her tweet, Barr said Jarrett – who is half-American American – appeared as though “muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby.” Barr has denied any racial undertones in the post and did so again while speaking with THR. Since being fired, Barr has expressed disdain for co-star and co-producer Sara Gilbert, alleging that she threw her under the bus. She also recently got into a back-and-forth with fellow ex-castmate, Michael Fishman and dropped various f-bombs in the process.
While Roseanne Barr distanced herself from The Conners though, upon the end of its seven-season run in 2025, her son, Jake Pentland, claimed she was pleased that the crew was able to work for so long. Per comments shared in this interview, though, Barr isn’t currently in touch with any of her fellow Roseanne alums. The actress is apparently still looking ahead to her newly filmed (and self-financed) show, which has yet to find a studio to back it, as of this writing.
