Jake Pentland is defending his mother Roseanne Barr against a former co-star’s claim that her sitcom reboot was “rightfully canceled.”
Pentland, 47, spoke to TMZ on Wednesday, a day after Michael Fishman posted a lengthy Instagram reel about the 2018 controversy.
Fishman, 43, who played DJ Conner on both the original “Roseanne” and the 2018 revival, had declared that “the show was rightfully canceled.”
Pentland told the outlet that while he agrees his mother was wrong for her social media posts, he believes Barr herself took the brunt of the backlash.
He claimed cast members took her tweets out of context.
Pentland also alleged that the cast “conspired” to take her sitcom revival away from her.
He said they failed to ask Barr “what she meant.”
Additionally, he claimed they “prevented her from publicly defending herself.”
Fishman had shared his Instagram reel on Monday after eight years of fielding what he called “ignorant and inaccurate” defensive comments about Barr’s past controversy.
“Turning the other cheek really isn’t helping,” he told fans in the video.
“So, I guess the world failed to learn the lesson,” Fishman continued.
“I’m going to point out. We are perpetuating a lie, and people are using a political smokescreen to justify the indefensible,” he said.
Fishman added that “those justifications, they’re leading to real consequences. Real crimes.”
“Dehumanizing people is never a joke,” he went on.
“In this case, there was no joke. And the show was rightfully canceled,” Fishman concluded.
Pentland and reps for ABC did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday evening.
In the viral moment that ended the revival, Barr shared a since-deleted tweet in May 2018 comparing former President Barack Obama’s advisor Valerie Jarrett to an “ape.”
Barr claimed she had been on Ambien and that she thought Jarrett was white.
ABC swiftly moved to cancel the reboot after only one season.
Barr later explained in a 2018 interview with Sean Hannity that her tweets were “about asking for accountability from the previous administration about the Iran deal, which Valerie Jarrett is the author of, and that was what was in my head.”
She added at the time that her reaction to the backlash “was shock that they were saying it was racial, when it’s political.”
In a 2018 podcast interview with Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, Barr apologized for the controversy.
“When you hurt people even unwillingly there’s no excuse,” she said.
“I don’t want to run off and blather on with excuses. But I apologize to anyone who thought, or felt offended and who thought that I meant something that I, in fact, did not mean. It was my own ignorance, and there’s no excuse for that ignorance,” Barr continued.
“The Conners,” a reimagining of the comedic family dynamic without Barr, ended in 2025 after seven seasons.
Pentland is Barr’s son with her first husband, Bill Pentland.
The family has lived through decades of public scrutiny since Barr’s rise to fame in the 1980s.
Jake Pentland has previously spoken publicly in defense of his mother.
Barr has continued to perform stand-up comedy and maintain a presence in conservative media circles since the cancellation.
Fishman has largely stepped away from acting since the original series ended its first run.
His Instagram reel marked a rare public statement about the enduring controversy.
The debate over Barr’s tweets and their consequences has persisted across social media for seven years.
Neither Barr nor other original cast members including John Goodman or Laurie Metcalf have publicly responded to Fishman’s latest comments.
Sara Gilbert, who played Darlene Conner and spearheaded “The Conners,” has not addressed Pentland’s claims.
The original “Roseanne” ran from 1988 to 1997 and was one of the most-watched sitcoms of its era.
The 2018 revival debuted to massive ratings before its abrupt cancellation.
Pentland’s interview with TMZ represents the most direct defense of his mother’s version of events from a family member in recent months.
Fishman has not responded to Pentland’s counterclaims.
The back-and-forth highlights how the 2018 cancellation continues to generate bitter divisions among those involved with the groundbreaking sitcom.
“The Conners” concluded its run in 2025 without ever reconciling with Barr.
Pentland remains active in media production and has collaborated with his mother on various projects since the controversy.
Barr is scheduled to perform stand-up comedy in Texas later this year.