Roseanne Child Star Michael Fishman Slams Idea That the Show’s Revival Was Unjustly Canceled: ‘Words Have Consequences’

Michael Fishman is making his thoughts about Roseanne Barr‘s 2018 firing clear.

via: EW

After eight years of “ignorant” comments about Roseanne’s cancellation, Michael Fishman has had enough.

The actor, who portrayed D.J. Conner for 14 seasons, responded to an Instagram comment that “woke crap” was to blame for the 2018 revival’s abrupt end.

ABC pulled the plug after Roseanne Barr likened former Barack Obama advisor Valerie Jarrett, who is Black, to Planet of the Apes in a tweet. According to the commenter, Barr’s remark was merely “the usual” joke from a comedian, “but America decided to backstab Roseanne.”

“I get these kinds of ignorant and inaccurate comments daily,” Fishman began his video response. “After eight years, turning the other cheek is really not helping. So, I guess the world failed to learn the lesson, so I’m going to point out — we are perpetuating a lie, and people are using a political smoke screen to justify the indefensible… Those justifications, they’re leading to real consequences, real crimes, situations like Trey Reed and Tasha Fortune, because dehumanizing people is never a joke.”

Fishman reasoned that while comedians can make people laugh at the “darkest” of topics, “sadly, in this case, there was no joke. And the show was rightfully canceled.” Perpetuating racial tropes “leads to real world consequences.”

And furthermore, he continued, the only people who were “backstabbed” in the situation were those “who were targeted by the statements and who became collateral damage from it.”

Immediately following Roseanne’s cancellation in 2018, Fishman “vehemently” condemned Barr’s “reprehensible and intolerable” online statements. “I have always lived and taught my children to be inclusive.”

Barr fired back at his tweet, telling her TV son, “I created the platform for that inclusivity and you know it. You throw me under the bus.”

Fishman agreed with the first part of her rebuttal, explaining that was why her racially insensitive comment “was so out of character with the last 30 years.”

Weeks after their public back-and-forth, ABC announced a new Roseanne spinoff, The Conners, starring everyone from the reboot’s cast, minus Barr.

Fishman appeared on the first four seasons until 2022, when “I was told I would not be returning for season 5,” he revealed in a statement at the time. The Conners, starring John Goodman, Laurie Metcalf, Sara Gilbert, and Lecy Goranson, ran for another three seasons, concluding in April 2025.

Nearly a decade after the scandal that started it all, Fishman’s feelings haven’t changed.

“Good people make mistakes,” he said of Barr in his Instagram video. “And I love the one who made this mistake. I always will. I’ll always have compassion and love, and I’ve shown it continuously and she helped the world understand that good people can make mistakes.”