Roseanne to be killed off in spinoff show The Connors, John Goodman reveals

Comedian sacked by ABC after posting racist tweets about former Barack Obama adviser

Roseanne Barr will be killed off in the new Roseanne spinoff, actor and former co-star John Goodman has revealed.

ABC sacked Barr and cancelled her comedy reboot after the 65-year-old posted racist tweets about a former adviser to Barack Obama earlier this year.

The comic compared Valerie Jarrett, who is African-American, to Planet of the Apes and linked her to the Islamist organisation the Muslim Brotherhood. Barr later claimed she thought Ms Jarrett was white.

ABC later announced it was creating a new comedy series called The Conners, which would reunite the other members of the original show; Goodman, Laurie Metcalf and Sara Gilbert.

In an interview with The Sunday Times, Goodman revealed the show, which will air later this year, would explain his onscreen wife’s absence by simply killing her off.

Pondering whether the new series was likely to be recommissioned, Goodman said: “It’s an unknown. I guess he’ll be mopey and sad because his wife’s dead.”

He also backed up Barr’s insistence she was not a racist. “I know, for a fact that she’s not a racist," he told the newspaper.

The Conners will run for ten episodes and Barr will have zero creative or financial participation. The show's producer revealed that she agreed to a settlement in a bid to prevent 200 cast and crew members from losing their jobs.