According to ScreenRant, John Goodman (The Big Lebowski, Flight) revealed recently whether he feels any regret over defending Roseanne Barr (She-Devil, The Nanny) and if he would ever work with her again. The very short-lived revival of Roseanne on ABC, in which Goodman and Barr took on their original roles, only lasted few months back in 2018. The series was canceled and then spun off into The Conner’s after Barr had tweeted very racist conspiracy theories. Barr stated that political advisor Valerie Jarrett was the offspring of Planet of the Apes, which she later apologized for.
Goodman stated to The Sunday Times during the time of the controversy, “I was surprised. 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.”
According to ScreenRant, Goodman recently spoke with Variety about his past comments on the controversy. He went on to tell Variety how he reflects now on the situation and regrets speaking up and defending Barr, as well as stating whether he’d work with her again.
Goodman said, “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. And that made me very uncomfortable with them just attacking Roseanne. Yeah, I felt bad for her. And then, yeah … I just feel terrible about the whole thing. You know, we had a great time. And I love her. She’s just her own person.”
He continued, “I don’t know. If she’d liked to … I just don’t know. I miss her. I wish her well.”
The Conner’s have moved way beyond the controversy regarding Barr and the Roseanne series. The series recently aired its fifth season, which is available to stream on Hulu.