Jerry Seinfeld Explains Why ABC Firing Roseanne Barr ‘Was Overkill’
Zack Sharf
Jerry Seinfeld doesn’t understand why ABC had to fire Roseanne Barr. Speaking to USA Today while promoting the upcoming season of “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee” on Netflix, Seinfeld said “Roseanne” would have collapsed on its own due to the comedian’s self-sabotaging offensive behavior, so it didn’t make sense to him why ABC took the extra step and fired her from the series.
“I don’t even know why they had to do that,” Seinfeld said. “It seemed like, you don’t need to murder someone that’s committing suicide. I thought the firing was overkill. She’s already dead.”
Seinfeld shared similar thoughts when asked about Barr during an interview with Entertainment Tonight, saying,”I didn’t see why it was necessary to fire her. Why would you murder someone who’s committing suicide?”
ABC canceled the high-rated “Roseanne” reboot on May 29, just hours after Barr published a racist tweet referring to former President Obama White House adviser Valerie Jarrett as if the “Muslim Brotherhood and ‘Planet of the Apes’ had a baby.” The network is rebooting the series yet again without Barr (the new show, entitled “The Connors,” will premiere this fall and star John Goodman, Sara Gilbert, and Laurie Metcalfe), while the comedian has tearfully apologized for her remarks and admitted to “horribly regretting” what she said.
Seinfeld weighed in on “Roseanne” moving forward without its eponymous star by claiming ABC and the show’s creators should just recast the character without its original star.
“I think they should get another Roseanne,” Seinfeld told Entertainment Tonight. “They brought Dan Conner back, he was dead and they brought him back. So, why can’t we get another Roseanne? There’s other funny women that could do that part. You need to get the comic in there. I hate to see a comic lose a job.”
One of the deciding factors in moving forward with “The Connors” was for Barr not to receive any financial rewards from the series returning to the air. Barr still owns the creative rights to her character, Roseanne Connor, which means she would’ve been making a profit if the show decided to simply keep the character and replace Barr with another actress.
Seinfeld’s “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee” returns for its tenth season on Netflix on July 6.
