Roseanne Barr’s son Jake Pentland is taking aim at former Roseanne star Michael Fishman. The actor recently defended ABC’s 2018 decision to cancel the sitcom revival. Pentland says the cast turned on his mother after her 2018 social media scandal. His comments have reopened an old fight over the show and the series that followed.
Jake Pentland criticized Michael Fishman after he defended ABC’s cancellation of ‘Roseanne’
Fishman addressed the Roseanne cancellation in an Instagram video. He said the revival was “rightfully canceled” after Barr’s racist tweet about former Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett.
Fishman said Barr’s post was not a joke and caused real harm. He also said he still cares about Barr and believes good people can make mistakes. Still, he rejected efforts to excuse the remark.
Jake Pentland strongly disagrees. In comments to TMZ, he claimed the cast “conspired” to take the show from his mother. He also said they took her post out of context and never asked what she meant.
Pentland admitted that Barr’s tweet caused harm. Yet he argued that his mother paid the biggest price. He also took a direct shot at Fishman and accused him of turning on the woman who helped start his career.
The cast feud goes back to May 2018. Roseanne Barr posted a racist tweet about Valerie Jarrett that compared her to the “Muslim Brotherhood and Planet of the Apes”. Barr later deleted the post and apologized.
ABC canceled Roseanne within hours. Then-ABC Entertainment president Channing Dungey called the statement “abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values.” The network later moved ahead with The Conners without Barr.
The Roseanne cancellation changed the cast’s future. Fishman played D.J. Conner on Roseanne and later joined The Conners. He stayed with the spinoff until 2022. The series ended in April 2025 after seven seasons.
Pentland now says Barr lost far more than a TV role. He claims the fallout cost her control of work she had built for decades. That remains his version of events, not a proven claim about the cast’s actions.
The latest clash has revived debate over Barr’s racist comments and the show’s end. Fishman still backs ABC’s choice. Pentland says the people around his mother failed her.
TELL US: WHAT DO YOU THINK OF JAKE PENTLAND’S RESPONSE TO MICHAEL FISHMAN?
Originally reported by Misbah Pandith for Mandatory
