Roseanne Barr Slams Former TV Son Michael Fishman Over ‘Roseanne’ Cancellation Comments

Roseanne Barr is lashing out at her former TV son Michael Fishman, who played D.J. Conner on Roseanne and The Conners, after he publicly defended the controversial sitcom revival’s 2018 cancellation.

In August 2026, Fishman shared an Instagram video responding to renewed discussion about why Roseanne was canceled following Barr’s racist post about former Barack Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett. Fishman said there was a difference between comedians tackling dark subjects through humor and what happened in Barr’s case, in which she compared Jarrett to a character in Planet of the Apes and was quickly canceled by ABC boss (at the time) Channing Dungey.

“The brilliant comedians help us laugh at the darkest, darkest topics,” he said. “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.”

Barr has now fired back at her former costar in an expletive-filled response.

On Can’t Be Censored with Travis Dhanraj and Karman Wong, Barr calls Fishman a “brainwashed bigot” and a “little f**king worm.”

On the show, host Dhanraj explained to Barr that Fishman acknowledged that “good people make mistakes,” but said that Barr’s comments were, in Dhanraj’s words, “horrible.”

“He f**king doesn’t even f**king know what I said, even though I’ve explained it 10,000 times for nine years on the internet. He hasn’t even taken the time to listen to what I say because he is a bigot, and he’s a brainwashed bigot,” said Barr. “And when he asked me to explain it to him, when I had already explained it 9,000 times, I told him, ‘Let me explain this to you, Michael. Go and f**k yourself and stay f**ked ’til the day you die.”

According to Barr, she angrily told Fishman to “keep my name out of your mouth,” before calling him an “ignoramus and a bigot.” She accused her former TV son of misunderstanding her original comments because they conflicted with his political beliefs, and claimed he had “no geopolitical context” to criticize what she had said.

“I’m glad they fired you because I was the only reason you were ever on that show. They wanted to get rid of you in the reboot, and I made them take you back. f**k you, you little f**kin’ putz,” said Barr as she casually smoked a cigarette. “I feel like suing him because it’s slander to bring up something that I have addressed 9,000 times.”

Barr insisted she is “not over it,” arguing that current world events have vindicated what she was trying to say at the time and calling her original tweet “prescient.” She also downplayed its initial reach, saying it was only online for about two hours in the middle of the night before she deleted it because she became frightened by what she had written.

Barr went on to defend how she approached the final season of Roseanne, saying she worked to “stay in the middle,” “explain both sides,” and avoid political extremes. She accused others in television of being biased and argued that programming on the public airwaves should instead “present a balanced view.”

Barr’s response certainly didn’t dial down the controversy. Beyond the expletives and personal attacks, the video also included heated remarks likely to keep the conversation going.