Barney Doc Highlights ‘Darkish Occasions,’ Backlash And Rumors For Present’s Solid & Crew

Whereas the present was beloved by kids who watched it from 1992 till its cancelation in 2010, the documentary explores the anti-Barney backlash, digs into the present’s haters whereas additionally highlighting a number of the darker tales related to its forged and crew.

Because the present soared in reputation, so did an increase in “Barney bashing” — which ranged from destroying plush dolls to on-line teams just like the “Jihad to Destroy Barney.” And people concerned with the present — each on and off-screen — actually felt that anti-Barney sentiment.

“The primary time I actually heard about Barney bashing was after I was nominated for a Grammy and I used to be interviewed by a neighborhood radio station. The cellphone calls got here in and there have been individuals saying, ‘His music drives me loopy. I would just like to get my fingers round that man’s neck,'” stated the present’s former music director Bob Singleton.

“I used to be stunned that they felt like they wished to do me bodily hurt. And it wasn’t only one or two cellphone calls. There was greater than that,” he continued. “I obtained to the purpose the place I, again within the good previous days, I unlisted my cellphone quantity. I used to be in worry. I obtained precise demise and dismemberment of my household emails. I actually do not need to revisit it, that was a horrible time. It harm so unhealthy.”

Bob West, who was the voice of Barney from 1988-2000, stated his e mail tackle obtained leaked on-line and he was inundated with hateful messages from individuals he believed have been all center college aged.

“A few of them have been very good and a few of them have been completely hateful. They have been very express and really violent,” he defined. “There was one e mail that requested, ‘Are you the Barney that I stabbed and shot exterior of New Orleans?’ They went on to say they have been going to return and discover me they usually have been going to kill me.”

The actors who appeared on the present as children additionally felt the backlash after they tried to return to the “actual world” and re-enroll in class with their friends.

“I believe I used to be 13 by the point I completed with the present. I simply wished to be a traditional child,” recalled Pia Hamilton. “There have been all the time these those that have been the Barney haters. Individuals who would name me the Barney lady.”

“Folks would name me Barney lover and they’d come as much as me and say, ‘Barney should have molested us.’ I might get that on a regular basis,” stated fellow former little one star Hope Cervantes. “And that was painful given my historical past of really going via that. I did flip to medicine and alcohol to manage, to deal. I did put on black garments and black lipstick and referred to as myself Black Dying, however truthfully on the core of me, I’m all of these issues. I’m candy, I’m compassionate and I am very loving. Nevertheless it was onerous, I felt the necessity to show myself.”

It was an identical story for Leah Montes, who stated her return to highschool was “not nicely obtained” in any respect.

“I did not need to change into the Barney lady, goody two-shoes, so as an alternative I took to unhealthy habits,” she stated. “For those who wished to have a drink, yeah, I’ll have a drink with you or smoke, I might do this too. I might fairly be identified for that.”

Rickey Carter stated that when he left the present, “the streets was calling” him — and he “answered the cellphone.”

“I used to be doing a number of the flawed issues in life and hanging across the flawed crowd, medicine and that nature. It obtained a little bit robust, actual tough,” he stated, including that, in 2004, somebody he “thought I knew” pulled a gun on him.

“[He] informed me ‘Give me every little thing’ and at that time I simply did not know what to do. I jumped out the automobile and that is when he shot me within the backbone and I used to be paralyzed,” stated Carter. Although medical doctors apparently informed him he would “by no means stroll once more,” after a 12 months of rehab, he was capable of. “It was a miracle,” he added.

“I needed to understand issues I used to be doing in my early 20s was not proper and I used to be punished as a result of I used to be raised proper,” stated Carter.

chunk of the second half of the documentary revolved round Patrick Leach, the son of Sheryl Leach — who created the purple dinosaur as a pal for the boy when he was simply two. She ultimately left the present in 1998 to spend extra time along with her children, with Leach admitting in an interview on “TODAY” that he was usually teased as a youngster for his affiliation with Barney.

“I heard some rumors that he was having a tough time. I used to be bullied for being on the present, so I may solely think about what Patrick went via,” stated little one star Hope Cervantes — whereas Leah Montes added, “I did not understand and I assume that is shortsighted on my half that even he can be impacted by Barney and his affiliation to it.”

When he was 27, Patrick made headlines for taking pictures his neighbor in Malibu after accusing the person of trespassing on his land. The sufferer survived and Leach — who was reportedly sporting a bulletproof vest through the taking pictures — was arrested and pled no contest to assault with a lethal weapon. Although sentenced to fifteen years in jail, he solely served 5 and was launched.

Charles Mittelstadt, who was a protection investigator within the case, appeared within the doc and stated that whereas arguing for his launch they stated Leach “confronted vital challenges as a baby and coming into early maturity.” They added, “When he was younger, his mom was busy constructing a profitable profession and his father struggled with melancholy. Mr. Leach’s dad and mom separated when he was 14 years previous and divorced three years later. Throughout that point Mr. Leach developed a mind tumor –benign — that was surgically eliminated. When Mr. leach was 18 years previous, his father dedicated suicide.”

“By his personal admission, he grew to become basically hooked on marijuana, the place it was a coping mechanism as a solution to numb his feelings and never need to cope with the realities of life,” added Mittelstadt. “It amped up his anxiousness and amped up his paranoia to the extent that when he was confronted with somebody he thought-about to be threatening and really aggressive, it distorted his actuality and skill to cope with it in a logical means.”

Brenda Lee, who labored for the Los Angeles District Lawyer’s workplace, stated that whereas that helped clarify his habits, “I would not say it justifies his habits.” She added that he took issues “to a different degree,” saying her impression of Leach was that he was “paranoid and really tightly wound.”

Bob West, the voice of Barney, stated the taking pictures incident “hit me so onerous,” whereas David Joyner, the person contained in the Barney go well with, stated he may “perceive” the scenario “understanding what occurred with [Patrick’s] dad.”

Neither Patrick or Sheryl Leach made themselves out there to be interviewed for the documentary, although Patrick has since married and has two kids.