John Goodman Doesn't Regret Defending Roseanne Barr Amid Racist Tweet Outrage
As The Conners prepares for Season 6 on ABC, John Goodman is opening up about his decision to defend former Roseanne co-star Roseanne Barr amidst her racist tweets back in 2018 that ultimately led to her firing and the end of the Roseanne revival. Following the show's cancellation in 2018, Goodman told the Sunday Times that he knows Barr is "not a racist" and that she was "going through hell." Now, in a new interview with Variety at the Monte Carlo Television Festival, the actor is sticking to his decision to defend Barr, and he doesn't regret it one bit.
"No. At the time, I remember going to some kind of junket where they saw the pilot, and then the interviews, and it just turned into attack," Goodman shared. "And that made me very uncomfortable with them just attacking Roseanne. Yeah, I felt bad for her. I just feel terrible about the whole thing. We had a great time. And I love her. She's just her own person."
Even despite the controversy surrounding Barr, and the fact that The Conners killed her off, it's very clear that Goodman still has a lot of love for her. Obviously, knowing her for a long time, going all the way back to Roseanne's original run, it couldn't have been easy to see so many people attacking her, no matter what she did. While everyone on the cast may not feel the same way, there definitely seems to be an unbroken bond between the two of them, or at least a bond that Goodman will always have with her, even if it's not the same and vice versa.
John Goodman previously addressed Barr's firing and the cancellation of Roseanne. However, it wasn't all bad news, as ABC soon reworked the revival as The Conners, and while it was unknown how long the show could go on for, the series has since managed to air almost 100 episodes. The Conners could be ending soon, however, but there's nothing confirmed that Season 6 will be the last one. Since the sitcom won't be back until at least midseason 2024 due to ABC's strike-proof schedule in the fall, fans will have to wait a little longer to be reunited with the family, but it also gives them more time with them as well, if this is the last one.
Goodman's loyalty to Barr after everything that has happened shows just how much of a family the cast is. Hopefully, this family won't be taken away anytime soon. At the very least, fans can still hope for a proper finale and that it won't be as abrupt as the revival's original cancellation.