{"id":354600,"date":"2026-08-12T12:31:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T17:31:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/michael-fishman-says-roseanne-was-rightfully-canceled-after-8-years-of-defending-the-decision"},"modified":"2026-08-12T12:31:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T17:31:17","slug":"michael-fishman-says-roseanne-was-rightfully-canceled-after-8-years-of-defending-the-decision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/michael-fishman-says-roseanne-was-rightfully-canceled-after-8-years-of-defending-the-decision","title":{"rendered":"Michael Fishman Says \u2018Roseanne\u2019 Was \u2018Rightfully Canceled\u2019 After 8 Years of Defending the Determination"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\n

Michael Fishman says he is done quietly ignoring claims that Roseanne<\/em> was unfairly canceled in 2018. After receiving another comment blaming the show\u2019s abrupt end on \u201cwoke\u201d culture, the actor who played D.J. Conner recorded a lengthy response defending ABC\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n

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 \u201cpolitical smoke screen\u201d to defend something he considers indefensible, according to Entertainment Weekly<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

ABC canceled the successful Roseanne<\/em> 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 \u201cabhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fishman Says \u2018There Was No Joke\u2019<\/h2>\n
\n<\/blockquote>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Fishman rejected that characterization.\u00a0 \u201cSadly, in this case, there was no joke,\u201d Fishman said. He added that the show was \u201crightfully canceled.\u201d In his video response<\/a>, Fishman said he normally ignores the comments he receives about the controversy but no longer believed staying silent was useful.<\/p>\n

He also challenged the commenter\u2019s claim that Barr had been \u201cbackstabbed.\u201d Fishman said the people harmed were those targeted by the remarks and those who became collateral damage after the controversy.<\/p>\n

He Still Says He Loves Roseanne Barr<\/h2>\n

\u201cGood people make mistakes,\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

He also acknowledged Barr\u2019s earlier role in helping Roseanne<\/em> 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.<\/p>\n

His Position Has Remained Consistent Since 2018<\/h2>\n

On the day ABC canceled the revival, Fishman released a statement condemning Barr\u2019s comments as \u201creprehensible and intolerable.\u201d He wrote about the importance of standing against \u201cbias, hatred, bigotry and ignorance\u201d and said the views expressed by Barr did not reflect the cast and crew members he had worked alongside.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

ABC Canceled \u2018Roseanne\u2019 Hours After Barr\u2019s Post<\/h2>\n