NEED TO KNOW
Michael Fishman is addressing a debate in his comments about the show that made him famous
Fishman, 44, played Roseanne’s son DJ Conner from 1988 to 1997 and reprised the role in the first four seasons of The Conners
The actor condemned the 2018 comments that led to Barr being fired and the revival of the show, which was later rebooted without Barr, while sharing love and appreciation for her in a personal capacity
Michael Fishman is making his thoughts about Roseanne Barr’s 2018 firing clear.
The actor, 44, frequently discusses his time as Roseanne’s son DJ Conner on social media. Fishman took time to respond to a comment that discussed how the comedian, 73, was fired from the reboot of Roseanne.
After the original series ran from 1988 to 1997, in 2018, an 11th season revival was announced. Barr was fired from the series shortly after it began airing, after she likened former President Barack Obama’s advisor Valerie Jarrett to an “ape” in a since-deleted tweet. She later claimed that she didn’t know Jarrett was Black and that she was on Ambien while tweeting the statement.
The comment Fishman received read, “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 crap 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. Funny thing is even if she was racist, she had already said more egregious jokes and nobody batted an eye before.”
Sharing the comment on screen in a video response, Fishman began, “I get this, every day, I get these kinds of ignorant and inaccurate comments daily. Mostly, I try to ignore them for over eight years. I’ve been dealing with it quietly. Usually, I don’t respond.”
While he credited this particular commenter with restraining from “death threats,” he continued, “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.”
Reiterating that Barr herself called her comments “indefensible,” he continued, “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 explained that while comedians and actors do benefit from freedom of speech, “that doesn’t mean there’s no responsibility and no consequences.”
“The brilliant comedians help us laugh at the darkest, darkest topics. 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,” he continued.
Credit: Snap/Shutterstock
While making it clear that he believes what Barr said was wrong, he noted that “Good people make mistakes. 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.”
“But there was no joke. There’s only damage and dehumanizing and perpetuating racial tropes. Leads to real world consequences,” he says. “And the only people who are backstabbed. We’re the people who were targeted by the statements. And those who became collateral damage from it.”
He encouraged commenters spouting racism and hatred and defense for such comments to, “Shut the hell up.”
“Be smart enough to just shut the hell up. Don’t finish the statement. Don’t hit send and certainly don’t rage against anybody else. Because words have real world consequences. And some of us deal with them every day. That’s freedom of speech,” he concluded.
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Roseanne (Roseanne Barr), Becky (Lecy Goranson), Darlene (Sara Gilbert), D.J. (Michael Fishman) and Dan (John Goodman) in season one of ‘Roseanne’ (1988)
Credit: ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty
At the time of the 2018 tweet, President of ABC Entertainment Channing Dungey shared a statement that read, “Roseanne’s Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show.”
Shortly after the cancellation, ABC ordered a spinoff titled The Conners with Goodman, Laurie Metcalf, Sara Gilbert and more reprising their characters from Roseanne. Barr’s character was killed off due to an opioid overdose.
The Conners aired for seven seasons from 2018 to 2025.
Read the original article on People