Michael Fishman and Lecy Goranson, stars of "The Conners" (formerly known as "Roseanne") told "The View" why the show killed off Roseanne Barr's namesake character with an opioid overdose. The show's former star reacted angrily to the news on Twitter earlier this week, writing "I ain't dead, bitches."
"There's an opioid crisis in this country, and I think one of the things that people really have resonated with our show is that we never skip out on a big topic," Fishman replied, pointing out the character of Roseanne Conner struggled with addiction.
"When the producers went to do this I think what they really thought is, what's going on in this country that we can tap into that can be an honest story," he said. "That's what the show has always been about."
"It wasn't an overnight decision. It wasn't out of vengeance, it wasn't out of anger," added Goranson, referring to the aftermath of Barr's racist outbursts on Twitter that got the original show canceled. "We also all felt the consequences of that, I mean, it has felt like a death to us as well in real life."
The decision garnered praise from co-host Meghan McCain, who said that "opioid addiction is savaging this nation right now."
"I also give it up to the show for addressing things that are very hard and a huge epidemic in the country," she added.
Watch the video below.
