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Roseanne Barr Claims The Conners Wanted Her Back — Here's What the EPs Told Us About a Possible Cameo
In a new documentary chronicling her career in comedy and television, Roseanne Barr alleges that she was asked to appear on The Conners as a ghost, after her family matriarch landed six feet under.
'They called me and asked me if I would like to come back as a guest star,' the Emmy winner claims in Roseanne Is America, according to People. 'You're asking me to come back to the show that you f—king stole from me and killed my a—, and now you want me to show up because you got s—t f—king ratings and play a ghost.'
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Barr insists that she turned down the request, telling producers, 'I'm gonna be bowling that f—king week.' But a source tells TVLine that Barr's claims are 'inaccurate.'
TVLine reached out to Barr's rep for further clarification on when, exactly, she received the invite. Barr declined comment.
Barr was famously fired by ABC in 2018 after she hit send on a bigoted tweet that nearly took her sitcom family down with her. But the beloved series, not unlike the working-class family at its center, persevered: Three weeks after Roseanne was cancelled, Barr reached a financial settlement with Werner Entertainment that allowed the production company to move forward with a spinoff without her participation. That agreement also forbade The Conners from using her likeness — hence the offshoot never showing Roseanne Conner in pictures or in flashbacks.
When the agreement was reached, Barr put out the following statement: 'I regret the circumstances that have caused me to be removed from Roseanne. I agreed to the settlement in order that 200 jobs of beloved cast and crew could be saved, and I wish the best for everyone involved.'
Seven years later, ahead of The Conners' series finale, TVLine spoke with executive producers Bruce Helford, Bruce Rasmussen and Dave Caplan, and asked if they considered having Barr make a cameo. At the time, Helford was quick to remind me, 'We pulled a Newhart the first time!' (He was referring to 2018's Roseanne revival, which kicked off with the resurrection of John Goodman's Dan Conner, who was killed off in the original series' 1997 finale.) To do it again, this time with Dan's late wife, 'would have felt to us like a rug pull,' Rasmussen said.
According to Helford, the only conversation they ever had was about preserving the memory of Barr's character, 'and we felt we did that. People loved her, her family loved her, and we wanted to make sure that this was something that honored that.'
Added Caplan: 'We never ran away from, or disrespected her character. That was a conscious decision on all our parts.'
Disney/ABC also declined comment for this story, while reps for the EPs have not responded as of press time.
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