Chuck Lorre calls Roseanne writers' room "malice" on Jesse Tyler Ferguson's podcast

Left · 2Chuck Lorre, creator of "The Big Bang Theory" and "Two and a Half Men", described his time as a writer on "Roseanne" as "malice" in an episode of the "Dinner's on Me" podcast. 1 2 Left · 1Host Jesse Tyler Ferguson asked about the "folklore" around the show's writers' room, including a rumour that Barr put then-husband Tom Arnold's name on other writers' scripts. 2 Left · 2Lorre said Roseanne Barr "hated that there were writers" and "fundamentally hated that other people wrote words that she would say". Lorre noted that Barr had become a star as a stand-up comedian through her own writing, and said the move to a television show, which cannot be done alone, "was not going to happen". 1 2

Left · 2Asked why he put up with it, Lorre cited 15 to 20 years of poverty and health issues before the job, and said he was not going back to scrambling to pay the rent. He said he worked 60- to 70-hour weeks and that the malice was "absolute". 1 2 Left · 1The A.V. Club added that Joss Whedon has told of Barr, after firing nearly her entire first-season staff, warning newly hired writers to keep quiet or be out the door. 2 Left · 2"Roseanne" ran from 1988 to 1997 and was revived for a nine-episode season in 2018. Variety says the revival was cancelled that year after Barr posted a racist tweet, and its successor "The Conners" ran seven seasons to 2025. The A.V. Club dates the revival to 2017 and says Barr was fired over racist online remarks about Barack Obama and adviser Valerie Jarrett. 1 2

Left · 1The A.V. Club also reports that Lorre recently drew the White House's anger with comments about Donald and Melania Trump at an awards show, and that Barr called former co-star Michael Fishman "a little fucking worm" on a podcast the previous week. Neither claim appears in Variety's report, and no response from Barr is included in either. 2