Grateful for his support. After John Goodman defended Roseanne Barr in a recent interview and said she’s not a racist, the disgraced comedian expressed gratitude toward her TV husband.
“I thank John Goodman for speaking truth about me, despite facing certain peril from producers and network,” Barr, 65, tweeted on Monday, August 27.
A day prior, The Times published an interview with Goodman, 66, in which the actor reflected on ABC’s cancellation of the Roseanne revival and the network’s green-lighting of the spinoff The Conners, in which Barr will not star. The network took swift action in May following Barr’s tweet in which she compared former Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett to an ape, denouncing Barr’s comment as “abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent” with the network’s values.
“I was surprised,” Goodman said. “I’ll put it this way, I was surprised at the response. And that’s probably all I should say about it. I know, I know, for a fact that she’s not a racist.”
Goodman also revealed he has had minimal interaction with his former costar. “[Barr] had to sign a paper saying that she relinquished all her rights to the show so that we could go on,” he explained. “I sent her an email and thanked her for that. I did not hear anything back, but she was going through hell at the time. And she’s still going through hell.”
Fellow comedian Tim Allen defended Barr recently, as well. “I go way back with Rosie and that’s not the Rosie I know,” the Last Man Standing star, 65, told reporters at the Television Critics Association’s summer press tour earlier this month, according to Entertainment Weekly. “She was the most diverse and tolerant woman I’ve ever known for a long time. Whatever got in her head isn’t the Roseanne I know.”
The Conners premieres on ABC on Tuesday, October 16, at 8 p.m. ET.
