Disgraced star Roseanne Barr has spoken out after the first episode The Conners – and she’s not happy that her character has been killed off.

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Taking to Twitter after the debut episode of the US comedy– a continuation of sitcom Roseanne but without the titular star– Barr posted the message “I AIN’T DEAD, B*****s!!!!” in reaction to the twist her character had died from an opioid overdose.

In addition, Barr issued a lengthy joint statement with Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, whose podcast she appeared on following US network ABC’s decision to pull Roseanne after a racist tweet from Barr. The two said her character’s death through an opioid overdose “lent an unnecessary grim and morbid dimension to an otherwise happy family show”.

Barr and Boteach also called for “forgiveness” for the tweet where Barr compared Valerie Jarrett, a former aide to President Obama, to an ape. “After repeated and heartfelt apologies, the network was unwilling to look past a regrettable mistake, thereby denying the twin American values of both repentance and forgiveness,” they said.

In the first episode of The Conners, the titular family is seen struggling to come to terms with the death of Roseanne, at first suggested to be from a heart attacked. However, at the end of the show it’s revealed that she died from the addiction first alluded to in the original Roseanne revival.

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ABC’s revival of Roseanne in March – after the sitcom’s two-decade hiatus – was a huge hit, with its season premiere garnering 18 million viewers for the network.

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Roseanne originally ran for nine series from 1988 to 1997 and was one of the biggest shows on American television in its heyday, lauded for its portrayal of a blue-collar American family.


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