Roseanne Barr says she'll go to Israel when The Conners spin-off airs

Telegraph Reporters
Updated
Roseanne Barr in New York in July - FR61802 AP
Roseanne Barr in New York in July - FR61802 AP

Roseanne Barr says she will "go to Israel for a few months" to avoid being in her home country when the spin-off show of her cancelled comedy airs in the US.

Barr was the co-creator and star of Roseanne, the wildly successful sitcom about a working class family in Illinois which enjoyed a record-breaking revamp earlier this year after originally finishing in 1997.

However, when Barr posted a series of racist comments on Twitter, network ABC decided to cancel the show immediately, putting Roseanne's cast, crew and writers at risk of losing their jobs.

A spin-off called The Conners has been hastily written and filmed to air later this year in an attempt to save the employment of the people who worked on the show and the lucrative advertising revenue it brought to ABC.

The Conners
The Conners

Barr, however, has not been involved in The Conners' creation. In a new podcast interview with Rabbi Shmuley Boteach Barr said she wishes no ill towards the spin-off, but also did not want to watch it or see any of the commentary surrounding it. 

"I'm not going to curse it or bless it," she said. "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."

She added that she may well 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."

Barr continued, suggesting she would leave Hollywood entirely: "I don't like Hollywood. I'm leaving California because I'm sure it's going to fall into the sea soon."

A teaser trailer for The Conners was released over the weekend, along with first images in which Barr was noticeably absent. 

In an interview with The Times, John Goodman, who played Roseanne's husband Dan on the show, suggested that Barr's character may have been killed off: "I guess he’ll [Dan Conner] be mopey and sad because his wife’s dead.”