Roseanne Barr said she will be steering clear of the “Roseanne” spinoff, “The Conners,” when it premieres this fall, and that she will be moving to Israel around that time.
“I’m not going to curse it or bless it,” Barr said of the upcoming spinoff on the Rabbi Schmuley Boteach Podcast over the weekend. “I’m staying neutral. That’s what I do. I’m staying neutral. I’m staying away from it. Not wishing bad on anyone, and I don’t wish good for my enemies. I don’t. I can’t. I just stay neutral. That’s what I gotta do. I have some mental health issues of depression and stuff. I got to stay in the middle or I’ll go dark, and I don’t want to do dark again. I’ve done it. After all, I was married to Tom Arnold.”
Saying she went down to Nashville to record a song and is writing a new sitcom, she added, “I have an opportunity to go to Israel for a few months and study with my favorite teachers over there, and that’s where I’m going to go and probably move somewhere there and study with my favorite teachers. I have saved a few pennies and I’m so lucky that I can go… It’s my great, great joy and privilege to be a Jewish woman.”
ABC canceled “Roseanne” in May following Barr’s widely condemned tweet that said that former Obama aide Valerie Jarrett looked as if the Muslim Brotherhood and “Planet of the Apes” had a baby. After extensive negotiations to end Barr’s involvement, the network recently said it would move forward with a spinoff titled “The Conners.”
Barr has apologized for her remarks several times, and during her appearance on the podcast added, “It was a death to me. The death of a character I created.”
She added, “I should never have said I’m sorry in their world. In my world, I had to because I was sorry. For crying out loud, I was sorry. People were so angry and, I have to say, a little bit ill-informed about me that they would put me in the same box where they have people who call for the death of all Jews and want to enslave all black people — real racists that actually exist. They put me in this box with them, and how do they think that’s going to affect me? They don’t, and they’re under mind control.”
The new series will focus on Sara Gilbert’s Darlene Conner. John Goodman, Laurie Metcalf, Lecy Goranson and Michael Fishman are also set to star. “The Conners” premieres on Oct. 16 on ABC.
Listen to the podcast below.