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The children’s television show “Barney & Friends” was a massive hit in the early ’90s, but it wasn’t all “I Love You and You Love Me” for the cast and crew.
The “Generation Barney” podcast, a seven-part series from Connecticut Public, looks back at the show’s impact on audiences and the people who worked on the show. At the height of the show’s popularity, the podcast shared, the cast and crew faced serious backlash over the kid-friendly purple dinosaur character.
“There were certain things, certain messages that people would send that were pretty threatening,” Bob West, the original voice of “Barney” said in the series’ third episode.
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“Barney & Friends” was a hit for PBS, but the character and the show’s cast and crew faced death threats and backlash. (Mark Perlstein/Getty Images)
He noted it happened a few times “because my email address got leaked.”
“If you get a death threat from a middle school child who sends you an email, then it doesn’t make me feel bad for me. It makes me feel bad for them because they’re obviously going through something that’s leading them to act out this way,” West added.
Bob West, the original voice of Barney the Dinosaur, said his email was leaked and he received death threats from people, including middle schoolers. (Bobby Bank/Getty Images)
Barney’s suit performer David Joyner received hate as well.
“Some people just feel the need to hate,” he said. “I don’t know why. They just feel the need to hate.”
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Joyner recalled being at a parade in New York, wearing the costume on a float, and as they rounded a corner, he said, “I see this man yelling, ‘I hate you Barney! F— you, Barney!’ I’m on this float, and he’s standing in front of a sea of people shouting this.”
The actor decided to try to defuse the situation, explaining, “My thing was, I gotta flip this guy, I gotta help him understand. So I just started pounding my heart like a heartbeat, and then I kind of bowed in front of him.” He said he continued gesturing with a heart motion and “I love you” in combination with the bow.
“If you get a death threat from a middle school child who sends you an email, then it doesn’t make me feel bad for me. It makes me feel bad for them.”
“By the time the float gets to him, he’s like, ‘Ugh, I love you Barney,'” Joyner said, adding the crowd cheered as well. “Sometimes it’s just about changing opinions.”
Joyner, who performed in the costume from 1991 to 2001, also dealt with racially charged backlash against him from the Ku Klux Klan.
David Joyner, Barney’s suit performer, recalled a man yelling curse words during a parade, and having to defuse the situation. (Vinnie Zuffante/Getty Images)
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“I get a call when I’m doing ‘Barney’ from my hometown news reporter, from the Decatur Herald & Review, and he asked me to comment on an article that was in Esquire magazine,” he shared in the second episode.
“I had no idea what he was talking about, so he asked me if I would go get the magazine and then give him a call with a comment. Well, in the magazine, the Klan had found out that the guy inside of the Barney costume was African American, so they banned their kids from ever watching ‘Barney’ again.”
The reporter asked Joyner’s thoughts on the story, and he admitted he “laughed” at the idea.
“I said, ‘Well actually, when I read it, I laughed.’ And he says, ‘What do you mean you laughed?'” I said, ‘Well, it’s the Klan, and I can’t change their opinion.'”
Joyner also said he received racially charged backlash from the KKK. (Desiree Stone; NBC)
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He continued, “Plus what we’re trying to do is represent love. If someone’s trying to represent hate, the last thing they want is to love. And if my skin color then changes that opinion for somebody, I can’t do anything about it because that is what it is.”
Joyner didn’t let the negativity get to him, and he performed in the Barney costume for 10 years before moving to Los Angeles to pursue other acting work.
The now 61-year-old also became a tantric massage specialist and spiritual healer.
In 2018, he told Vice he used his tantra training of deep meditation to get through the long set days when he would be stuck in the 70-pound Barney costume for several hours. He credited the practice for helping him maintain “an abundance of joy” while wearing the costume in hot conditions.
“I said, ‘Well, it’s the Klan and I can’t change their opinion.'”
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Director Tommy Avallone spoke with Fox News Digital for the show’s 30th anniversary in 2022 and shared Joyner’s philosophy.
“He explained it to us. It’s more than what you think it is with sex. It’s meditation. It’s energy work. And when he talks about his meditation and the energy he would pull from his body, he tried to push it through — as weird as it sounds — push it through the television. That way children could feel the connection of Barney.”
Avallone stressed that while many people associate Joyner’s tantra principles with sex, “that was never happening with Barney.” Instead, he relied on the “energy work and meditation” from his practice to “heighten Barney’s performance” and deliver joy.
A docuseries titled “I Love You, You Hate Me,” released in 2022, also delved into the darker side of the PBS series.
Stephen White, “Barney & Friends” head writer, said that despite the death threats and backlash, “We were too busy making the show to worry that much about what various critics and trolls had to say.” (Everett/Shutterstock )
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On the “Generation Barney” podcast, Stephen White, head writer of the show, said generally the team wasn’t too concerned about the negativity they received.
“We were too busy making the show to worry that much about what various critics and trolls had to say. And we also knew the integrity of the project we were working on, which was top to bottom,” White said.
“The ‘Barney’ community that was making the show really was like a family. We all knew why we were there. We all wanted to make a show that was genuinely wholesome. So when we would hear these criticisms, it was easier to shake off.”
