Whatever trace that remained of the MAGA hat-wearing Roseanne has officially been jettisoned on the TV spinoff “The Conners.” This week, the show openly shilled for illegal immigration.
On Tuesday’s season finale episode, “We Continue to Truck,” the plot centered around the character Beck (Lecy Goranson) and her pregnancy at the hands of a busboy at the restaurant where she works who’s here in the United States illegally. Newsbusters has more:
At first, [Becky] wasn’t even sure if she wanted a family with Emilio (Rene Rosado) or if she had feelings for him. But in just a few episodes, they’re happily in love and everything is falling perfectly into place.
Becky had been struggling to make it on her own, but now she’s so much better off with Emilio that she’s replacing the snack foods that she stole from her dad’s house with money Emilio gave to her. They’re both happy about their future together and they share a sweet kiss in a snow-covered park as they talk about becoming a family.
Throughout the season, Dan (John Goodman), slowly warms up to the idea of his daughter dating an illegal immigrant and even offers him contracting work with his company. In the finale episode, however, he comes home to inform Becky that Emilio may have been deported due to an ICE raid downtown. As the two characters argue, Becky denounces the ICE raids as “ridiculous” because illegal immigrants are “just trying to have a better life.” Transcript:
Dan: Becky, has Emilio called you?
Becky: No. I got a message from a number I don’t recognize.
Dan: Check it. I heard there was a big ICE raid downtown, and they hit the restaurants.
Darlene: Oh, my — this is ridiculous. These people are just trying to have a better life.
Dan: He was here illegally, Darlene.
Darlene: Oh, so you don’t have a problem with what’s happening?
Dan: I have a big problem. I like the guy, my daughter’s about to have his baby, and he may be getting dragged out of the country. You think I want that? Damn it. It’s Emilio, right?
Emilio: …taking me to Texas and then turning me over to authorities in Juárez. I will find a way back to you and our baby after a short time in Chihuahua.
Roseanne Barr was ousted from her own sitcom last year due to a racially-charged tweet targeting former Obama aide Valerie Jarrett, whom she described as a cross between the Muslim Brotherhood and “Planet of the Apes.” Roseanne initially claimed she didn’t realize that Jarrett, who was born to parents of African-American and European descent, was black.
Speaking with USA Today at the time of “The Conners” launch, Goodman said the show has a “hollow center” without Roseanne.
“It felt great to be back, but there’s a hollow center. I miss Rosie real bad,” said Goodman.
While Roseanne’s tweet was racially charged, Goodman also said he knows that his former co-star is not a racist person.
“I know for a fact that she’s not a racist,” he said, going on to imply that ABC should not have canceled her show so suddenly. “I’ll put it this way, I was surprised at the response. And that’s probably all I should say about it.”
ABC decided to kill off Roseanne’s character on the show via an opioid overdose.