Roseanne Barr blames Sara Gilbert for the cancellation of the Roseanne reboot, and not the racist Tweet that caused a stir. The original sitcom ran from 1988 to 1997 and chronicled the life of the blue-collar Conner family. It was one of the highest-rated shows in history and lauded as culturally impactful before its 2018 reboot. Barr returned in her role, as well as Gilbert as her daughter Darlene. But the reboot was short-lived, despite its success, thanks to Barr’s tweet about former Obama advisor, Valerie Jarrett. Social media users were outraged and there was a call to action, and Gilbert, who was also a co-host on The Talk on CBS, made her stance known.ย
In a Tweet sent in May 2018, Gilbert wrote: “Roseanne’s recent comments about Valerie Jarrett, and so much more, are abhorrent and do not reflect the beliefs of our cast and crew or anyone associated with our show. I am disappointed in her actions to say the least.” According to Barr, Gilbert’s Tweet is what contributed to her downfall. Barr was fired and the show was reworked to focus on Gilbert’s family and retitled as The Conners. It remains on-air today.
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“It was her tweet that canceled the show,” Barr said of Gilbert in an interview with Megyn Kelly on her SiriusXM Radio Show. “And then she tweeted ‘It’s sad when one cast member,’ something about racist, blah, blah. And I was floored. I was just floored. And you know, but she ends up owning my work and Tom Werner becomes her partner in owning my work.”
Barr claimed Gilbert “begged me to come back saying, ‘I’ve got your back. This time I won’t let anyone at you. I won’t let anyone hurt you. I’m gonna protect you. I know you have mental health problems, but I’m gonna be there. I’m gonna stand in the way.’”
Barr’s character was killed off. She took that as a strong message. “And you know, they just tried to kill me and I felt like they killed my character and my character,” Barr said, “but I thought they were sending a message over the airwaves because they knew I had mental health issues. I thought they wanted me to kill myself. And all my friends did too. They said, they’re trying to push you to suicide.”
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BRENTWOOD, CALIFORNIA – JUNE 01: Sara Gilbert and honoree Linda Perry attend the 18th annual Chrysalis Butterfly Ball on June 01, 2019 in Brentwood, California. (Photo by Tibrina Hobson/Getty Images for Chrysalis Butterfly Ball) -
THE CONNERS – ABC's "The Conners" stars Michael Fishman as D.J. Conner, Jayden Rey as Mary Conner, Lecy Goranson as Becky Conner-Healy, Sara Gilbert as Darlene Conner, Emma Kenney as Harris Conner-Healy, Ames McNamara as Mark Conner-Healy, John Goodman as Dan Conner, and Laurie Metcalf as Jackie Harris. (Andrew Eccles via Getty Images) -
HOLLYWOOD, CA – JUNE 15: Jennifer Carpenter, Julie Benz and Michael C. Hall attend the "Dexter" series finale season premiere party at Milk Studios on June 15, 2013 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by JB Lacroix/WireImage)
