Tim Allen Defends Roseanne Barr After Her Racist Tweet

Conservative TV stars unite! Tim Allen spoke out about Roseanne Barr for the first time since ABC canceled the reboot of her sitcom, Roseanne, in the wake of her racist tweet.

“I go way back with Rosie and that’s not the Rosie I know,” the actor, 65, told reporters on Thursday, August 2, at the Television Critics Association’s summer press tour, via 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.”

Allen noted that he has been a comedian for nearly 40 years and has noticed a difference in the industry as of late. “Like Lenny Bruce said at The Purple Onion, ‘We’ve gone backwards.’ There are things you can’t say. There are things you shouldn’t say,” he said. “Who makes up these rules? And as a stand-up comic, it’s a dangerous position to be in because I like pushing buttons. It’s unfortunate.”

When asked whether he believes ABC made the right decision in canceling Roseanne, the Home Improvement alum said, “They had to do what they had to do and it’s their decision.”

Allen can relate to Barr, 65, as his ABC sitcom, Last Man Standing, was canceled in May 2017 after six seasons. Earlier this year, it was picked up by Fox for a seventh season, set to premiere in September.

“I don’t really believe it was a political decision,” he told reporters on Thursday of his show’s brief cancellation. “I think it was a financial decision. … I thought it was done very poorly, that’s my point of view. I was heartbroken.”

Roseanne was canceled in May just a few hours after Barr posted a since-deleted tweet about former Barack Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett looking like the offspring of the “muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes.” A month later, ABC picked up a Roseanne spinoff titled The Conners. All of the original cast members, including John Goodman and Laurie Metcalf, are set to return, while Barr will have no financial or creative involvement. The Conners premieres on October 16.