Chuck Lorre Claims Roseanne Barr's 'Malice' Made Her 'Impossible' to Work With on Her Hit Sitcom
Chuck Lorre lifted the lid about working with Roseanne Barr.
Oct. 8 2026, Published 1:12 p.m. ET
Chuck Lorre claimed Roseanne Barr was "impossible" to work with on the set of her hit sitcom, RadarOnline.com has learned.
On a recent installment of the Dinner’s On Me with Jesse Tyler Ferguson podcast, Lorre said she had "malice" toward the writers of Roseanne.
Chuck Lorre Claims Roseanne Barr Was 'Impossible' to Work With
Lorre claimed Barr struggled with letting other writers give her lines.
"Roseanne hated that there were writers," he claimed. "Fundamentally hated that other people wrote words that she would say."
"It was the premise of other people putting words in a stand-up comedian’s mouth. It’s fundamentally flawed,” he said. “There’s very few comics that can do that.”
According to Lorre, Barr was protective of her craft as she "made herself a superstar based on her words, her writing."
Lorre Powered Through Out of Concern for His Career
He was still early in his career and didn't want to lose an opportunity.
Roseanne ran on ABC for 10 seasons, and Lorre worked on the project for only two (Season 3 and 4).
Despite the strain he felt with Barr, Lorre insisted her attitude didn't run him away from the show. Instead, he was motivated to stay up since his career was just beginning to bloom.
He explained, "I navigated because I’d had, I don’t know, 15, 20 years of poverty and health issues and all sorts of stuff, and I was not going to go back. Under no circumstances was I going to go back to scrambling to pay the rent."
Lorre explained he "put up with" Barr's attitude for "60, 70-hour weeks every week."
Barr's Self Destruction
The network refused to back her after a racist comment.
Ultimately, Barr became the downfall of her own show. The revival series was yanked from TV after Barr made a racist post on social media.
Digging into a conversation of users criticizing former President Barack Obama, Barr compared one of his advisors to the "planet of the apes."
She received immediate backlash for the 2018 comments and later issued an apology.
"I apologize to Valerie Jarrett and to all Americans. I am truly sorry for making a bad joke about her politics and her looks," she said. "I should have known better. Forgive me – my joke was in bad taste."
However, the damage was already done.
"Roseanne's Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show," ABC Entertainment President Channing Dungey said in a statement.
Co-Star Slams Barr
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Barr didn't receive sympathy from some of her former co-stars.
Years later, Michael Fishman, who played D.J. Conner on the show, admitted he understood ABC's move to cancel the show.
"Dehumanizing people is never a joke. So, sadly, in this case, there was no joke. And the show was rightfully canceled," he said at the time.
In response, the comedian trashed Fishman, calling him a "brainwashed bigot."
She added, "And when he asked me to explain it to him – when I had already explained it 9,000 times – I told him, 'Let me explain this to you, Michael. Go and f--- yourself and stay f---ed 'til the day you die.'"
Over the years, Barr has also been increasingly vocal about her right-wing political beliefs. Most recently, she has become a strong supporter of controversial Trump-backed candidate Ken Paxton.
