Michael Fishman, who starred as D.J. Conner on Roseanne, has spoken in support of ABC’s decision to cancel the show’s reboot via an Instagram video. The network ended the series following Roseanne Barr’s racially insensitive tweets about former Barack Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett. The 44-year-old actor said the cancellation was justified.
Michael Fishman rejects claims that Roseanne Barr was unfairly blamed for the 2018 cancellation
Fishman responded to an Instagram comment that blamed “woke” culture for the 2018 revival’s cancellation. The comment, appeared above the Instagram reel shared on August 10, argued that the 73-year-old Barr faced backlash for making jokes as a comedian and accused America of turning against her.
It read, “At the time the LGBTQ and woke crap took over and started destroying anything it could. Roseanne was one of the people that all of a sudden got flack for remaining to be a edgy comedian. Funny thing is even if she was racist, she had already said more egregious jokes, and nobody batted an eye before.”
Fishman began his video by addressing the controversy. He said, “I get these kinds of ignorant and inaccurate comments daily. Mostly, I tried to ignore them for over eight years. I’ve been dealing with it quietly. Usually, I don’t respond.” He said that after eight years, “turning the other cheek” was no longer helping. He added that the world had failed to learn the lesson.
The actor stressed that people were perpetuating a lie and using a political “smoke screen” to justify the indefensible. He said, “Those justifications, they’re leading to real consequences, real crimes, situations like Trey Reed and Tasha Fortune, because dehumanizing people is never a joke.” Fishman explained that comedians can find humor in even the darkest topics. However, he said, “Sadly, in this case, there was no joke. And the show was rightfully canceled.”
According to Page Six, Barr was removed from her own revival series after a series of controversial tweets. One of the posts compared former President Barack Obama’s adviser Valerie Jarrett to an “ape.”
The original sitcom ran from 1988 to 1997. Following the cancellation, the network quickly ordered a spinoff called The Conners, which ran for seven seasons from 2018 to 2025. John Goodman, Laurie Metcalf, Sara Gilbert, and several other cast members returned to their original roles. Barr’s character was killed off in the spinoff following an opioid overdose.
TELL US- WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE ROSEANNE CANCELLATION?
