The Conners Star Lecy Goranson Vividly Recalls the Moment Roseanne Crumbled Before Her Very Eyes

E! News sat down with the eldest Conner child to find out what she had to say about the return of the famous TV family.

By Chris Harnick Oct 18, 2018 2:45 PMTags
Watch: Lecy Goranson Tells All on "The Conners"

The past few months have been a roller coaster for Lecy Goranson. In May, her show, Roseanne, was coming off a celebrated return to airwaves. Goranson was once again playing Becky Conner to an audience of millions. Then her TV mom, Roseanne Barr, tweeted and everything came crashing down. Roseanne was canceled, Goranson was out of a job.

"I was in my apartment, and usually I have my little ritual where I'll get up, get a coffee and turn on some jazz and sit at my computer. I remember sitting at my computer and just seeing the media around it and just feeling paralyzed. I felt paralysis. And then I managed to pick up the phone and text [Sara Gilbert], ‘We're screwed,'" Goranson said about seeing the tweet.

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Everything You Need to Know About The Conners

"I just felt like I couldn't see any way around what that was and I was also just saddened and just shocked. I was shocked. And then I just kind of remember the next two or three hours just walking around," Goranson told E! News. She was flooded with texts and emails, but she said all she could do was just walk around and couldn't escape this thought: "This is going to crumble."

And it did. ABC pulled the plug on Roseanne after Barr's racist tweet about Valerie Jarrett. ""Muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj," Barr said in a since-deleted tweet.

"It was just so surreal and shocking and sad," Goranson said. The actress said she continues to be baffled by the tweet. "Whatever you want to call it, it is racist, that being said I don't think Roseanne is a racist, I think that is racist…I still don't quite understand what she was trying to say. I don't understand what the logic is. No one's explained to me what it was supposed to mean, and I felt so confused by that. I really did," she said.

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The Conners: The Family Is All Smiles in New Portraits
ABC

Roughly a month after the cancellation of Roseanne, ABC announced The Conners, a spinoff of Roseanne that Barr would have no creative or financial ties to. Goranson, Gilbert, John Goodman, Laurie Metcalf and Michael Fishman, all original cast members of Roseanne, reprise their roles in the show. The Conners, which debuted to more than 10.5 million viewers, matching the Roseanne revival series finale, killed Barr's character by way of an opioid overdose. Goranson hasn't heard from Barr since the cancellation, but Barr did release a lengthy statement about how The Conners got rid of her Roseanne Conner character. In the statement, Barr said the death added an "unnecessary, grim and morbid dimension."

"People have their opinions on any piece of art," Goranson said. "Of course I understand why that would be hers, but you know, it's a different show. It's a new show. It has a lot of elements of the old show, but it's not the same show."

Watch the video above to hear more.

The Conners airs Tuesdays, 8 p.m. on ABC.