John Goodman Admits He 'Feels Bad' for Former Costar Roseanne Barr: 'I Wish Her Well'
John Goodman recently opened up about his experience working with Roseanne Barr on popular sitcom Roseanne before it was canceled.
In an interview with a news outlet, The Righteous Gemstones actor shared some kind words for the actress, who caused Roseanne to be taken off air due to a racially-charge tweet about one of Barack Obama's senior advisors, Valerie Jarrett.
Although Barr apologized for her alleged insensitive language, the ABC show was scrapped in 2018. After the incident, Goodman told The Sunday Times, "I was surprised at the response. And that's probably all I should say about that … I know for a fact that she's not a racist." He explained that Barr was "going through hell," at the time of the tweet. Barr later thanked Goodman "for speaking truth about me."
This week, Goodman revisited when he spoke up for the 70-year-old.
When asked if he regretted what he said to The Sunday Times, he said, "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. And then, yeah … I just feel terrible about the whole thing. You know, we had a great time. And I love her. She's just her own person," he added.
When queried if he would work with the comedian again, he replied, "I don't know. If she'd liked to … I just don't know. I miss her." "I wish her well," he concluded.
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The interview then shifted to discussing the success of blue-collar shows such as Roseanne and The Conners, which is a spinoff of Roseanne where Barr's character was killed off.
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"I think a lot of people have tied into the struggle that it lives paycheck to paycheck. And we try to handle it with humor,” he shared. "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."
Variety reported on Goodman's comments.