Okay, Soooo....Before Anyone Dares to Act Jumpy into Conclusions, I'll Say It Out of Confusion for Those Who aren't Aware:
No, I Am NOT a Fan of Barney the Dinosaur. I Only Grew Up Knowing Who Barney & Friends was in the Background but Never Got a Chance to Watch His Franchise, so I Wouldn't Say I Hate Him, But Regardless, I Just Wasn't a Fan and Only Acknowledged Both His Fanbase & Hatebase Growing Up.
I've Lately Finished Watching a Documentary on the Barney Franchise titled "I Love You, You Hate Me" on Peacock (Which was a Limited Series that Streamed Three Years Ago) and it Caught My Interest as I Was Unaware of the Controversies surrounded Barney the Dinosaur. After Watching the Two Episodes...I Have No Regrets to Say This After What Had Happened to the Cast and Crew, even for the Creator Whom I Felt Bad Seeing Her Creation Being a Punching Bag, Which I Will Say for the Fanbase but...Barney's Legacy Deserves Better.
The Way I Watched The First Episode Knowing the Franchise's Origins, I Turned Fascinated by the Warmth Backstory on How the Purple Dinosaur was Created. Turns Out, Sheryl Leach wanted to Her Own Show After Seeing How Her Son was Obsessed with "Wee Sing Together" which Motivated Her to Create Her Own Character for Her Son to Have Education with while Also Giving Him His Own Special Imaginary Sibling to Bond (Awwww!) Barney was Originally Going to be a Bear, but Concepts were Changed into a Dinosaur Due to How Dinos were Big at the Time, even I Was Impressed How Other Childhood Legends like Bill Nye and Steve Burns of "Blue's Clues" Frame were in the Documentary (Mostly Steve Took Over but Bill had Plenty of Screen Time for His Own Explanations, especially How Dinosaurs were the Earliest Obsessions for Kids like Me to Love Monsters Before Learning About Biology and Mythology (Bill's Words, Not Mine)), Getting to Know the Cast and Crew, How They've Experienced with the Show or What They're Previous Lives were Like and the Cast of Kids were Really Joyed to Have a Friend like Barney in Their Lives During Their Acting Careers, Few of Barney's Famous Actors like David Joyner & Bob West are Very Nice People Whose Joy in Their Career was Carried by Their Fictional Character.
But Then Came The Second Episode which Deeply Shocked Me when I Learned about its Dark Side Especially Seeing How Barney was in the Wrong Place in the Wrong Era He Would've Been Made Earlier then That was the Rise of the Haters So Big Yet Shocking to See its Reveal, but the Haters did Explained Their POVs During the Barney Era Maturely After So Long of These Years During Their Interview and Honestly I Never Seen a Hatebase So Intensive Yet Crazily Toxic (There were a Few Haters Sending Hate Messages to the Cast even to Bob West Had I Been So Disgusted by Such Horrible Creepy Behavior) and How This Had Ruin Poor Sheryl Leach's Life. Not to Mention Her Son's Shooting Back in 2013 (Patrick's Married which Means Sheryl Now Has Grandkids After Her Son's Prison Life) Sometimes the Internet Can be a Bit Sh*tty with Hate Memes off of the Things You Loved Dearly as a Kid.
But After Seeing Through to Understand the Hate, I Can See Why Barney's Not Much Well-Liked Among the Crowd; It's Because Every Preschool Character has Their Own Trait of Flaws like the Characters from "Sesame Street" or Fred Rogers, You Could Argue to Find Some Mistakes in Barney in Your Own Eyes if You Had Known Him For Very Long but I Think Barney was Meant to be Special in His Own Unique Way. Being a Longtime PBS Kids Fangirl, I Had My Own Mistakes as I Grew Up to Learn Them, I Had to Face My Own Consequences Because of Them. Even for a Friendly Monster, He was Part of Everyone's Childhood, Including the Fans and Non-Fans Who Taught Them Good Very Value Lessons When the Kids Needed Him. I Befriended a Few Barney Fans Back in My Childhood so I Know What's it Like Having an Fictional Figure You Look Up to in Your Childhood Growing Up but as You Can Outgrow Them They'll Still be in Your Memories. I Now Feel Bad for Poor Sheryl Leach for What She Had to Witnessed as I Had My Own Fair Share of Doubts Within Me Too as She Deserved Better (even if You May Hate Barney, You Can't Help but Feel Bad for the Creators and the Cast/Crew for What They Had to Suffer).
For My Own Barney, I Had a Tons of Preschool Characters in My Childhood but I Mostly Had The Doodlebops & The Wiggles (Both Children Bands Which Formed My Love for Music since I Was Born to be a Melomaniac by My Soul).
Barney...I May Not Be One of the Kids Whom Grown to Look Up to You, but You Deserve Better.
(If Any Rabid Barney Hater Comes Up to Send Negativity to This Pic, I Will Block or Report You).
Barney the Dinosaur (c) PBS, Sheryl Leach, Kathy Parker, & Dennis DeShazer
Indie (c) Me
