Roseanne Barr has slammed the decision to kill her ‘Roseanne’ character off via an opioid overdose as "unnecessary, grim, and morbid".
The 65-year-old disgraced actress had her ABC sitcom cancelled earlier this year after she posted a racist tweet about a former White House adviser, and when the television network chose to create a spin-off show entitled ‘The Conners’ – which involves all the ‘Roseanne’ cast except Barr herself – they decided to have Roseanne’s eponymous character killed off.
‘The Conners’ premiered on ABC on Tuesday (16.10.18), and in response, Roseanne enlisted the help of her friend and adviser, Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, to write a carefully worded statement in which she slammed ABC’s decision to opt for a "morbid" death.
She said: "While we wish the very best for the cast and production crew of ‘The Conners’, all of whom are deeply dedicated to their craft and were Roseanne’s cherished colleagues, we regret that ABC chose to cancel ‘Roseanne’ by killing off the Roseanne Conner character. That it was done through an opioid overdose lent an unnecessary grim and morbid dimension to an otherwise happy family show."
Roseanne went on to state that the original ‘Roseanne’ sitcom was known for "promoting love and respect", and said that by cancelling the show in favour of ‘The Conners’, ABC were showing a "refusal to forgive".
She continued: "This was a choice the network did not have to make. ‘Roseanne’ was the only show on television that directly addressed the deep divisions threatening the very fabric of our society. Specifically, the show promoted the message that love and respect for one another’s personhood should transcend differences in background and ideological discord. The show brought together characters of different political persuasions and ethnic backgrounds in one, unified family, a rarity in modern American entertainment. Above all else, the show celebrated a strong, matriarchal woman in a leading role, something we need more of in our country.
"The cancellation of ‘Roseanne’ is an opportunity squandered due in equal parts to fear, hubris, and a refusal to forgive."
Previously, Roseanne had hit out at the decision to kill off her character, as she claimed it was "cruelly insulting" to the fans of the original program.
She said: "Oh ya, they killed her. They have her die of an opioid overdose.
"There’s nothing I can do about it. It’s done. It’s over. [But it] so cruelly insults the people who loved that family in that show."
Roseanne Barr: Killing off my character is ‘grim and morbid’
