Sara Gilbert Says ‘Roseanne’ Will Not Use Donald Trump’s Name

The Roseanne revival has fueled a lot of political discussion in the past few days, mostly due to star Roseanne Barr’s support of President Donald Trump. However, co-star Sara Gilbert revealed that the show will not actually use POTUS’ name.

In the show, Barr’s character, Roseanne Conner, is a Trump supporter (like Barr is in real life), and the Conner family is shown squabbling over political disagreements during the series premiere.

During an interview with Bravo’s What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, Gilbert, who plays Conner daughter Darlene, answered a Trump-centric call-in question from a viewer. The viewer asked what it was like for Gilbert to play a Trump supporter, but the actress quickly clarified the Conner family’s stances.

“The Conners aren’t Trump supporters,” Gilbert said. “Roseanne’s character is a Trump supporter — she’s the only one — and we never say his name, actually, in the show.”

Gilbert then went on to clarify the show’s political themes, which are more about how a family is affected by political discourse than it is taking a stance.

“It’s not about anyone’s position or a policy, it’s really about what happens to a family when there’s a political divide, which is something the entire country can relate to and something we need to talk about,” Gilbert said. “With our show, it’s never about ‘doing an issue’ or ‘doing politics.’ It’s, ‘How do these things affect a family unit?’”

This is not the first time a cast member has had to clarify the show’s political themes.

A TMZ cameraman asked John Goodman, who plays Conner patriarch Dan, about Roseanne‘s portrayal of more conservative values after the show’s massive ratings win.

“It’s just how politics affects the family, that’s all,” Goodman simply said.

Despite these clarifications and similar statements by other cast members, the main discussion of the show is centered around Trump.

Barr has ramped her vocal support of Trump since the premiere’s success, which also garnered a congratulatory phone call from the POTUS. Barr took to Twitter on Friday night to champion efforts of Trump breaking up human trafficking rings.

“President Trump has freed so many children held in bondage to pimps all over this world,” Barr wrote. Hundreds each month. He has broken up trafficking rings in high places everywhere. Notice that. I disagree on some things, but give him benefit of doubt-[for] now.”

However, it appears Barr’s statement stems from a combination of both factual reports and conspiracy theories.

She followed up by retweeting news reports about various human trafficking operations around the U.S., which were carried out by the FBI and other law enforcement agencies. These are actual facts, of course.

However, the fact that Trump is personally involved in these raids stems from the conspiracy theory known as QAnon, which is completely unsubstantiated.

QAnon is an online conspiracy that claims the world is controlled by an elite group of pedophiles, including many Democrats and celebrities, that carry out human trafficking operations around the globe. Believers of the conspiracy think that Trump has personally stopped these operations through secret government actions not available to the public.

As The Hill‘s campaign editor Will Sommer detailed in a Medium post after Barr’s tweet went live, Barr has previously tweeted about the conspiracy theory several times, despite the fact there is absolutely no proof of the QAnon conspiracy. Furthermore, some of the accounts she retweeted when sharing human trafficking stories were vocal followers of the QAnon conspiracy.

Barr later apologized for making the remarks, but did not back down from her beliefs. She said the people of Twitter were “bullying” her because they “were not aware” of the truth.

“I thought today was a good day to talk about freeing kids from sex slavery, since it is Passover,” Barr wrote. “I didn’t realize that so many were not aware of it. Anyway, no more opinions from me on twitter, it invites bullying. Moving on.”

She added, “I have worked with victims of trafficking for decades [and] supported the fight against it. Sorry to have mentioned it here. It’s not the place.”

Roseanne airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

Photo Credit: ABC / Lorenzo Bevilaqua