“Barney & Friends” didn’t warm everyone’s heart with the show’s catchy tunes or happy-go-lucky dinosaurs.
Bob West, the original voice of Barney, appeared on the new podcast “Generation Barney” and recalled receiving death threats from people just because he voiced the purple T-Rex on the children’s TV series.
“There were certain things, certain messages that people would send that were pretty threatening,” West said, per People.
“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 act out this way,” he explained.
However, West shared the threats worsened with the show’s popularity after people found his email address.
“That happened a few times because my email address got leaked,” he said, noting that others on the set were receiving threats, too.
David Joyner, the man in Barney’s suit, recalled being confronted while on a parade float in New York City.
“Some people just feel the need to hate,” Joyner chimed in. “I don’t know why, they just feel the need to hate. I was at a parade in New York … We’re coming around the corner and I see this man yelling, ‘I hate you. Barney! F–k you, Barney!’ I’m on this float and he’s in front of a sea of people shouting this.”
“Barney & Friends” was about America’s favorite purple dinosaur and aired from 1992 to 2010. The series was based on “Barney & the Backyard Gang” and produced some high-profile talent.
Selena Gomez, who got her start on “Barney & Friends” alongside Demi Lovato, looked back on the childhood role in 2018.
“It was amazing to be able to be 7 years old and experience that. It was wild,” the “Only Murders in the Building” star said in an interview with BBC Radio.
Gomez also said that she tried to make a cast reunion happen a few years earlier but was told she “couldn’t be on the show [because] I’m not in the right union.”
Lovato, 32, told Howard Stern last year that she “got teased at school” for being on “Barney” at 10.
“I don’t remember what they teased me for,” she continued. “I just remember going home from school and my mom saying, ‘You’re laughing all the way to the bank.’”
The first two episodes of “Generation Barney” are available now wherever you stream your podcasts.
