Michael Fishman says he is done quietly ignoring claims that Roseanne was unfairly canceled in 2018. After receiving another comment blaming the show’s abrupt end on “woke” culture, the actor who played D.J. Conner recorded a lengthy response defending ABC’s decision.
Fishman said he has received what he considers inaccurate comments about the cancellation for more than eight years and usually chooses not to answer them. This time, he argued that people were using a “political smoke screen” to defend something he considers indefensible, according to Entertainment Weekly.
Fishman said he still loves Roseanne Barr, has compassion for her and believes good people can make serious mistakes, while maintaining that affection for someone does not require excusing the consequences of their actions.
ABC canceled the successful Roseanne revival on May 29, 2018, hours after Barr posted a since-deleted tweet comparing former Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett, who is Black, to an ape. Barr apologized, while ABC Entertainment president Channing Dungey said the statement was “abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values.”
Fishman Says ‘There Was No Joke’
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Fishman was responding to a commenter who argued that Barr had simply made the type of provocative joke expected from a comedian and blamed the cancellation on changing cultural and political attitudes.
Fishman rejected that characterization. “Sadly, in this case, there was no joke,” Fishman said. He added that the show was “rightfully canceled.” In his video response, Fishman said he normally ignores the comments he receives about the controversy but no longer believed staying silent was useful.
He also challenged the commenter’s claim that Barr had been “backstabbed.” Fishman said the people harmed were those targeted by the remarks and those who became collateral damage after the controversy.
He Still Says He Loves Roseanne Barr
“Good people make mistakes,” he said, while explaining that he continues to have compassion for the woman who played his television mother for decades. Fishman said he loves Barr and always will, but maintained that caring about someone does not require defending everything they say or do.
He also acknowledged Barr’s earlier role in helping Roseanne tell stories involving characters and families who were not always represented on network television. Fishman said that history was part of what made her 2018 remarks especially difficult for him to reconcile with the person he had known.
His Position Has Remained Consistent Since 2018
On the day ABC canceled the revival, Fishman released a statement condemning Barr’s comments as “reprehensible and intolerable.” He wrote about the importance of standing against “bias, hatred, bigotry and ignorance” and said the views expressed by Barr did not reflect the cast and crew members he had worked alongside.
Barr responded publicly to Fishman at the time, telling her former television son that she had helped create the platform that allowed the series to tell inclusive stories. Fishman acknowledged that point then, but said it was precisely why he found her tweet so inconsistent with the person and work he had known for decades.
ABC Canceled ‘Roseanne’ Hours After Barr’s Post
ABC’s response in 2018 was immediate. In its original ABC News coverage, Dungey called Barr’s statement “abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values” and announced that the network had decided to cancel the series.
The decision came despite the revival’s strong ratings and after ABC had already renewed Roseanne for another season. Disney chairman and CEO Bob Iger publicly backed the cancellation, saying there was “only one thing to do here” and that ABC had made the right decision.
Barr subsequently apologized for the tweet and said she regretted it. She also offered several explanations for what had happened, including saying she did not know Jarrett was Black and attributing her behavior in part to taking Ambien.
ABC Continued the Conner Family Story Without Barr
ABC announced The Conners only weeks after canceling Roseanne, allowing the remaining members of the television family to continue without Barr. John Goodman returned as Dan Conner, Laurie Metcalf as Jackie Harris, Sara Gilbert as Darlene Conner and Lecy Goranson as Becky Conner, while Fishman continued playing D.J.
Fishman remained a cast member through the show’s fourth season and also directed episodes. In August 2022, he announced that he had been told he would not return for Season 5. The Conners continued for three more seasons without him as a regular cast member. Its seventh and final season concluded in April 2025.