Roseanne Barr has hit out at Sara Gilbert, claiming that the actor who played her daughter ‘stabbed’ her in the back and then ‘twisted the knife’.
Back in 2018, Roseanne was axed from her own eponymous show after she tweeted a racist comment about Barack Obama's advisor Valerie Jarrett.
After Barr’s comments online went viral, Gilbert was quick to criticise her on-screen mother on Twitter, calling the remarks ‘abhorrent’ and saying that they weren’t a reflection of the ‘cast and crew or anyone associated with our show’.
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The show was soon cancelled by ABC the same day.
Now, in an interview with Megyn Kelly on SiriusXM’s The Megan Kelly Show, Barr spoke about Gilbert, and accused her of being the catalyst for the show’s cancellation.
"It was her tweet that canceled the show," Barr said.
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"And then she tweeted 'It's sad when one cast member,' something about racist, blah, blah.
“And I was floored. I was just floored. And you know, but she ends up owning my work and Tom Werner becomes her partner in owning my work."
The original version of the show had a purple patch between 1988 and 1997, which followed the Conner clan through their lives in Lanford, Illinois.
During that time, it was winning the ratings battle against just about everything else, and had become one of the most beloved sitcoms in US TV history.
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So, when it was brought back in 2018, everyone was made up. The original cast reunited, including Barr in the title role and Gilbert as daughter Darlene.
Barr felt particularly aggrieved at Gilbert, because – she claimed – her co-star had apparently ‘begged [her] to come back’.
She said the actor told her: “’I've got your back. This time I won't let anyone at you. I won't let anyone hurt you.
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“I'm gonna protect you. I know you have mental health problems, but I'm gonna be there. I'm gonna stand in the way.”
After Roseanne was cancelled, a new sitcom started called The Conners, which was recently renewed for a sixth season.
In the first episode, it is revealed that Barr’s character had died off-screen, which she believes was a 'message' directly to her.
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"And you know, they just tried to kill me and I felt like they killed my character and my character," Barr continued.
“But I thought they were sending a message over the airwaves because they knew I had mental health issues.
“I thought they wanted me to kill myself, and all my friends did too.
“They said, they're trying to push you to suicide."
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When Gilbert initially criticised the racist outburst against Jarrett, Barr said that she had forgiven her but then later claimed to the Washington Post that she'd ‘destroyed the show and my life with that tweet’.
UNILAD has reached out to Gilbert's reps and ABC for comment.
Topics: Celebrity, Entertainment, Film and TV
Tom Wood