John Goodman Defends Roseanne Barr After She’s Canceled For Obama Joke

It’s been five years since Roseanne Barr was fired from her own sitcom “Roseanne” and targeted by cancel culture after she posted a tweet about Barack Obama’s former advisor Valerie Jarrett that many found to be racist. In a new interview, Barr’s former co-star John Goodman is speaking up to defend her.

John Goodman gave us so much joy as Dan Conner (Roseanne, 1988-1997). pic.twitter.com/SmXgLvzJmJ

— art tavana (@arttavana) February 27, 2022

Goodman Defends Barr 

Goodman, who played Barr’s husband on “Roseanne” from 1988-1998 and then again in the 2018 reboot, was one of the only people to defend Barr after her firing.

“I was surprised at the response,” Goodman said later in 2018 of the backlash Barr received, according to Fox News. “And that’s probably all I should say about that … I know for a fact that she’s not a racist.”

This week, when asked by Variety if he regretted defending Barr, Goodman replied, “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,” he continued. “I just feel terrible about the whole thing. We had a great time. And I love her. She’s just her own person.”

Watching the incredible talents of John Goodman each week is among the things I cherish most about working on #Roseanne pic.twitter.com/elQHM3vjdK

— Michael Fishman (@ReelMFishman) May 23, 2018

Would Goodman Work With Barr Again?

As for whether he’d ever work with Barr again, Goodman replied, “I don’t know. If she’d liked to… I just don’t know. I miss her. I wish her well.”

After ABC cancelled “Roseanne” because of Barr’s tweet, it rebooted the show with Goodman and the rest of the cast as “The Conners,” killing off Barr’s character in the process. Goodman continues to work on “The Conners” to this day.

“A lot of people have tied into the struggle of living paycheck to paycheck. And we try to handle it with humor,” he said. “Roseanne said something very early in the process: ‘Just because we’re poor doesn’t make us stupid.’ And I think that has a lot to say for the series, but it’s a struggle that’s handled with humor.”

Roseanne Barr’s character on sitcom spin-off ‘The Conners’ will be killed off, John Goodman says: https://t.co/IRbdHudXFh pic.twitter.com/329RmIVjwH

— Entertainment Weekly (@EW) August 28, 2018

Related: Roseanne Barr Fires Back After Her Sitcom Character Is Killed Off – ‘I Just Cannot Let These A**holes Win!’

Barr’s Comeback

As for Barr, she launched her comeback earlier this year with her standup comedy special “Cancel This!” on Fox Nation. She used this special to mock the “woke” left for their obsession with gender and pronouns, doing so in a way that only she can.

“These people, they have no concept of reality. They’ve been living in a bubble forever. Asking questions have nothing to do with the real world,” she said. “‘What is my gender, mom? What is my gender?’ Your gender is, get a job. That’s your gender.”

“What are they thinking? Ask a – what is a woman? They don’t know that? That one they’re asking all the time. What is a woman? I’ll tell you what a woman is. A woman is me,” she continued. “That’s what a woman is, okay? A woman is someone who cleans up everybody else’s s***. That’s what a woman is.”

“A woman is somebody whose boobs hang down to her knees with a prolapsed uterus from giving birth to five ungrateful little privileged b******s that have never had to work for anything in their whole damn life,” Barr concluded. “My pronouns are, kiss my a**.”

Congratulations Roseanne Barr on Epic return to comedy. She slams gender ideology “My Pronouns Are Kiss My A$$” pic.twitter.com/wV5Nur88yt

— ꪻꫝể ꪻꫝể (@TheThe1776) February 11, 2023

Related: Roseanne Barr Launches Comedy Comeback – ‘My Pronouns Are Kiss My A**’

What happened to Barr was incredibly unfair and a disturbing result of the crazy times that we are living in. While it would have been nice if Goodman had spoken up more about Barr in the years since, we’re glad that he’s defending her now.