John Goodman defends Roseanne: 'I know for a fact she's not a racist'

John Goodman has defended Roseanne Barr after her show was cancelled for a racist tweet. Photo / Getty Images

John Goodman has revealed how he struggled with depression for a month after the Roseanne reboot was cancelled, while defending his on-screen wife over the racist tweet that got her sacked.

Goodman, who played father-figure Dan Conner alongside Roseanne Barr's titular character, said he was "surprised" by ABC's decision to pull the series after just nine episodes in the wake of Barr's tweet about Valerie Jarrett.

"I know, I know, for a fact that she's not a racist," he told The Sunday Times.

Goodman also told how he struggled with depression for around a month after the show was canned on May 29.

"I was broken-hearted," he said. "I went through a period, about a month, where I was very depressed. That had a great deal to do with it, more than I wanted to admit."

He said he jumped at the chance to take part in the reboot, despite being glad to see the series go when it ended its original run in 1997.

Goodman described filming the reboot as "a gas", saying that he felt very close to everyone on the team.

The show will continue but will be rebranded The Connors and won't feature Barr.

Looking ahead to the new series, Goodman said the cast will have their work cut out to make the show a success without her.

Goodman said he did message Barr during that time, saying: "She had to sign a paper saying that she relinquished all her rights to the show so that we could go on.

"I sent her an email and thanked her for that. I did not hear anything back, but she was going through hell at the time. And she's still going through hell."

Speaking about his relationship with Barr, he recalled that the two used to laugh a lot, and said his goal in life was "to make her wet her pants".

But it seems the pair did not share much of a relationship off set, as Goodman describes Barr as his "work friend".

Barr caused widespread outrage after she tweeted that Jarrett, who was born in Iran and is of African American heritage, looked like "the Muslim Brotherhood & Planet of the Apes had a baby".

She has repeatedly apologised for any offence that the tweet caused as well as to the cast and crew of Roseanne, but refuses to accept that it was racist.

Barr insists that she thought Jarrett was white and intended the tweet as a political jibe at Obama's nuclear deal with Iran.

On Sunday, Barr sent a message to fans on Twitter saying she was "doing better" after changing doctors, having previously hinted at mental health issues.

Meanwhile ABC President Channing Dungey has revealed that the Jarrett tweet was just the last in a long line of problems with Roseanne that got her fired.

Speaking about the decision, she said: "It was actually made very swiftly. We knew what we wanted to do, and we did it.

"For us, we have had multiple instances with Roseanne, and certainly this tweet crossed the line that cannot be crossed, but it was for us a sense of enough is enough and something had to be done.

"It was nice that it was so clear to everyone that there wasn't a lot of debate and discussion about it."