Roseanne Barr defends portrayal of Muslims on rebooted sitcom

Comedian and actress Roseanne Barr has defended a new episode of her show Roseanne that explores themes of Islamophobia.

The latest episode of the sitcom, which relaunched in March after a 21-year hiatus, features a number of jokes using “typically offensive tropes about Muslim culture”, says Newshub.

“The central character is fearful, for example, that her [Muslim] neighbours are building a bomb out of the fertiliser outside their garage,” the New Zealand-based news site reports. “There are also jokes about the family being friends with Isis, and their son sleeping in a bulletproof vest because he’s scared of the threats he’s received around the neighbourhood.”

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The episode, which aired last night in the US, follows previous allegations of Barr making Islamophobic comments. According to The Daily Beast, she has shared tweets that equate Islam with Nazis and has referred to “Islamic rape paedo culture”.

However, Barr claims she wanted to use the show to address “immigrants and prejudice” and to “find a way to cut to the humanity of each other”.

Co-star Michael Fishman, who plays Roseanne’s son D.J., also defended the new episode in an article published yesterday on Entertainment Weekly. Fishman writes that the the storyline teaches “tolerance and compassion”, and will “open eyes”.

Responding to criticism on Twitter over the episode, Barr said that she “likes to do TV episodes about real issues and real people” and that next season she would “challenge every sacred cow in the USA”.