Johnny Galecki Criticized By ‘Roseanne’ Fans As He Teases His Return To ‘The Conners’

Johnny Galecki appears to be headed back to The Conners, but not everyone is supporting his return to the ABC sitcom. The former Big Bang Theory star recently took to Instagram to tease his return to ABC’s Roseanne spinoff, as previously shared by The Inquisitr, but his possible casting news was hit with a mixed reaction from social media followers.

Galecki posted a photo of himself on the show with co-stars Sara Gilbert and Laurie Metcalf and noted that he “may” bring his character David Healy back for “one or two more stories” on The Conners this year. But it was the next part of his post that had some Roseanne fans up in arms.

The actor, who debuted his David character in 1992 on the original Roseanne series, added that he is still in “awe” over his first TV family, whom he says “adopted” him when he was a young actor.

“Twenty some years later I’m still in awe of this freak a** carnie group who adopted me early on and still learn so very much from them whenever in their presence,” Galecki captioned the pic with Gilbert and Metcalf.

Some followers reminded Galecki that it was Roseanne Barr, the now-fired matriarch of the original Roseanne series, that really took him under her wing and adopted him more than 20 years ago.

“Group that adopted you? You mean Roseanne that gave you a job? Lucky for you. And now y’all just act like she doesn’t exist,” one commenter fired back at Galecki.

“Still sad what you and the rest of the cast let them do to Roseanne…..” wrote another.

“Whether you want to admit it or not, you ALL owe your careers to @officialroseannebarr,” another added.

Another fan reminded Galecki that if it wasn’t for Roseanne Barr, there wouldn’t have been a show to adopt him on, and then urged Galecki to give credit where credit is due.

“You all do realize most of you all would not be where you are in your careers if it wasn’t for her bringing you on her show.”

Several commenters also noted that while they loved Galecki on the Big Bang Theory—the actor wrapped his long run as Leonard Hofsteder on the Emmy-winning CBS comedy in May—they will not watch him on The Conners.

Galecki mentioned on Instagram that he may reprise #TheConners' David Healy in 'one or two more stories.' https://t.co/yDTlYfXiei

— TV Insider (@TVInsider) August 26, 2019

After Roseanne Barr was fired from her show over offensive Twitter posts, her rebooted show was canceled and the Conners spinoff was born. The controversial decision to kill off the Roseanne character via an opioid overdose alienated some longtime viewers of the sitcom.

With all of the original cast back except Roseanne, Galecki reprised his role as Darlene Conner’s ex-husband, David Healy, on two episodes of the first season of the spinoff last year. The first season of The Conners ended with a cliffhanger as Galecki’s David told his ex Darlene (Gilbert) that he wanted to give their relationship another try, just as she was making plans to move to Chicago with her boss/new boyfriend Ben (Jay R. Ferguson).

While it certainly sounds like he will be back as David Healy in some capacity for Season 2, Galecki previously teased that after 12 seasons on The Big Bang Theory he needs some “space” from being a series regular again—on The Conners or anywhere else.

“I certainly hope to visit as much as possible,” he told TV Line of The Conners in February. “That’s kind of my second home… I still have a bit of a high school crush on that character.”

The Conners returns September 24 on ABC.