Roseanne star Michael Fishman has defended the cancellation of the show’s reboot in 2018, saying he is done “turning the other cheek” to criticism over the decision.
Fishman released a tearful Instagram post in response to a comment defending Roseanne Barr, the eponymous star of the sitcom who transitioned to full MAGA mode with a series of controversies under her belt. The actor said he believes the show was “rightfully canceled.”
The former child actor responded to a comment defending Barr, 73. The comment suggested that the reboot “got canceled because Roseanne made the usual jokes a comedian makes but America decided to backstab Roseanne.”
“At the time the LGBTQ and woke c— took over and started destroying anything it could. Roseanne was one of the people that all of a sudden got flack for remaining to be a edgy comedian,” it continued. “Funny thing is even if she was racist, she had already said more egregious jokes and nobody batted an eye before.”
Fishman reposted the comment alongside his video, saying he receives such “ignorant and inaccurate” messages daily.
“Mostly, I try to ignore them. For over eight years, I’ve been dealing with it quietly,” he continued. “Usually, I don’t respond.”
“After eight years, turning the other cheek really isn’t helping,” he added.
Fishman, now 44 years old, began his career as a child star at age 6. He acted as D.J. Conner, the son of Roseanne and her on-screen husband Dan Conner, played by John Goodman.
Roseanne aired on ABC from 1988 to 1997 and faced a short-lived revival in 2018. The show was canceled after Barr posted a series of racist Twitter posts about Obama official Valerie Jarrett, comparing the attorney and former presidential adviser to an ape. Her posts were widely slammed as being racist, and Barr’s subsequent defenses became equally controversial.
After Barr’s firing and the cancellation of Roseanne, ABC released a spin-off with most of the original cast, including Fishman.
The comedian later said her joke was “in bad taste” and that she regretted it. But her comments have oscillated over the years: In 2025, she told Variety that God told her to post the tweets and slammed her critics as racists themselves.
But as fans continue to push for the reboot and Barr flip-flops between her stance as both a supporter and critic of President Donald Trump, Fishman decided to weigh in.
“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 smokescreen to justify the indefensible,” he said, noting that Barr herself called her comments “indefensible” years ago.
Fishman continued, saying that people attempting to justify hateful rhetoric lead “to real consequences,” naming the sudden, suspicious deaths of Trey Reed and Tasha Fortune, Black people in Mississippi who were found hanging less than a year apart.
“Dehumanizing people is never a joke,” he said. “See, when we’re onstage as comedians, or on camera, we have the freedom to say whatever we want. But that doesn’t mean there’s no responsibility and no consequences.”
“The brilliant comedians help us laugh at the darkest topics,” continued Fishman. “So, sadly, in this case, there was no joke. And the show was rightfully canceled. It’s the last time I’m really gonna go into this.”
Fishman said he has been “clear” that “good people make mistakes.” He said he will always have “compassion and love” for Barr. “She helped the world understand that good people make mistakes,” he continued. “But there was no joke. There was only damage and dehumanizing—and perpetuating racial tropes leads to real-world consequences.”
Fishman told his fans to “shut the hell up” with their justifications of racism.
He captioned his post saying, “Humanity crumbles when [we] justify dehumanization and stay silent to suffering, inequality, exclusion, and oppression. We can do better.”
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