Though he made a lasting impression on the original Roseanne series, George Clooney turned down the offer to return for the reboot.
Hours before the revival premiered Tuesday on ABC, Roseanne Barr revealed the actor, 56, declined a possible cameo after playing Booker Brooks, the Wellman Plastics supervisor/foreman of Roseanne and Jackie (Laurie Metcalf), in 11 episodes when the series first aired in 1988.
“Well, George Clooney didn’t want to come on — so that was a bummer, but he lives in Italy,” Barr, 65, told Howard Stern on his Sirius XM radio show.
“He’s said some really silly things about me, but I still love him,” she said about Clooney, 56, who went on to play Doug Ross on ER in 1994.
During the interview, Barr also recalled a time when Clooney got her in trouble with network executives back when Roseanne landed at the top of the ratings chart.
At the time, ABC gifted the cast a giant chocolate that was shaped in the number one. Clooney suggested Barr smash the confection with a baseball bat because he thought she deserved a better celebratory present.
According to Barr, Clooney took a photo of the dessert demolition and she sent the picture to the then-president of ABC.
“That caused a lot of problems for me. I should not have sent that picture,” she told Stern, adding, “But it’s so funny.”
Barr along with Metcalf, John Goodman, Sara Gilbert, Lecy Goranson, Michael Fishman and Sarah Chalke each reprise their roles as the Conner family returns to the screen.
