Barney Doc Highlights ‘Darkish Instances,’ Backlash And Rumors For Present’s Forged & 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 recognition, 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 — definitely 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 telephone calls got here in and there have been folks 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 telephone calls. There was greater than that,” he continued. “I received to the purpose the place I, again within the good previous days, I unlisted my telephone quantity. I used to be in worry. I received precise demise and dismemberment of my household emails. I actually do not need to revisit it, that was a horrible time. It harm so dangerous.”

Bob West, who was the voice of Barney from 1988-2000, stated his e mail handle received leaked on-line and he was inundated with hateful messages from folks 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 come back and discover me and so they have been going to kill me.”

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

“I feel I used to be 13 by the point I completed with the present. I simply wished to be a standard child,” recalled Pia Hamilton. “There have been at all times these folks 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 would get that on a regular basis,” stated fellow former baby star Hope Cervantes. “And that was painful given my historical past of truly going by that. I did flip to medicine and alcohol to manage, to deal. I did put on black garments and black lipstick and known as myself Black Loss of life, however actually on the core of me, I’m all of these issues. I’m candy, I’m compassionate and I am very loving. But it surely was laborious, I felt the necessity to show myself.”

It was an identical story for Leah Montes, who stated her return to high school was “not effectively acquired” in any respect.

“I did not need to turn into the Barney lady, goody two-shoes, so as an alternative I took to dangerous habits,” she stated. “If you happen to wished to have a drink, yeah, I’ll have a drink with you or smoke, I might try this too. I would moderately be identified for that.”

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

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

“[He] advised me ‘Give me every thing’ and at that time I simply did not know what to do. I jumped out the automotive and that is when he shot me within the backbone and I used to be paralyzed,” stated Carter. Although docs apparently advised him he would “by no means stroll once more,” after a yr 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 good friend 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 typically teased as a young person 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 by,” stated baby star Hope Cervantes — whereas Leah Montes added, “I did not understand and I suppose that is shortsighted on my half that even he could be impacted by Barney and his affiliation to it.”

When he was 27, Patrick made headlines for capturing 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 throughout the capturing — 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 important challenges as a toddler and coming into early maturity.” They added, “When he was younger, his mom was busy constructing a profitable profession and his father struggled with despair. Mr. Leach’s mother and father 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 turned basically hooked on marijuana, the place it was a coping mechanism as a option to numb his feelings and never need to take care of 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 of to be threatening and really aggressive, it distorted his actuality and skill to take care of it in a logical method.”

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

Bob West, the voice of Barney, stated the capturing incident “hit me so laborious,” whereas David Joyner, the person contained in the Barney go well with, stated he may “perceive” the state of affairs “realizing what occurred with [Patrick’s] dad.”

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