What actress and comedienne Roseanne Barr tweeted about former Obama senior advisor Valerie Jarrett back in May was definitely in poor taste and possibly racist, depending on whose story you believe. But, former “Roseanne” co-star John Goodman is finally speaking up about what went down after the show was cancelled within hours of Barr’s tweet.
Goodman, who besides co-stars Barr and Laurie Metcalf were the only reasons to watch “Roseanne,” spoke to The Sunday Times and divulged that he had a difficult time mentally after the show was cancelled. He also spoke of who he knows Barr to be.
“I know, I know, for a fact that she's not a racist,” Goodman said.
This would tend to feed into Barr’s narrative that she had no idea that Jarrett was a black woman when she tweeted that Jarrett looked like a combination of the “Muslim Brotherhood” and a character from the original “Planet of the Apes” movies.
As far as his mental struggles after the “Roseanne” show’s cancellation, Goodman noted that he was “very depressed.”
“I was broken-hearted,' he said. “I went through a period, about a month, where I was very depressed. That had a great deal to do with it, more than I wanted to admit.”
Goodman also said that he thanked Barr after the “domestic goddess” signed away all her rights to the show so that the rest of the cast could continue.
“I sent her an email and thanked her for that,” Goodman said. “I did not hear anything back, but she was going through hell at the time. And she's still going through hell.”
Does Barr deserve to be “still going through hell,” even if you don’t believe her assertion that she had no idea Jarrett was a black woman? Maybe, maybe not.
Was what Barr said about Jarrett ignorant? Yes. Was it in poor taste? Absolutely! Was it racist? Only Barr truly knows.
Ignorant, possibly racist comments are just that — ignorant. And while I may rail on people for comments they have made, I would never espouse taking away their right to say them. Ignorant people who say ignorant things should absolutely be heard. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have any examples of how not to act.
H/T: Daily Mail