Delve into the dark side of Barney the Purple Dinosaur with the upcoming docuseries I Love You, You Hate Me. NBCUniversal’s streaming platform Peacock has just released the official trailer for the docuseries which focuses on major issues that were going on behind the scenes of the popular children’s program unbeknownst to the families whose little ones were watching at home. I Love You, You Hate Me will be available for streaming on Oct. 12, and you can check out the new trailer below.
The official synopsis for the series reads:
The trailer provides a look at some of the backlash that had been generated against Barney when the series arrived in the early 1990s. While the titular dinosaur sang songs about loving one another, he had come under fire from adults who didn’t care for the series. Even long before the days of social media, Barney became a “target of hate.” There were people sending death threats and other cruel messages to the performers who’d portrayed Barney.
“As [creator Sheryl Leach’s] beloved character was heading into the stratosphere, people couldn’t accept that this was just a show. And so, let the bashing begin,” former Barney actor David Joyner said, via People.
Fellow former Barney Bob West also said, “They were violent and explicit, death and dismemberment of my family,” he recounted. “They were gonna come and find me, and they were going to kill me.”
Barney Was Hated By Many, But Why?
“Barney came out on television when I was just 10 years old, and I admittedly didn’t understand him,” director Tommy Avallone says of his own take on the dinosaur. “As a teenager, for one of my birthdays I asked my aunt to make me a Barney costume, so my friends and I could beat him up on camera.”
Now feeling that the hatred he had for Barney as a youngster was unwarranted, Avallone now says, “Several years later, creating this docuseries, it feels good to be on the other side and no longer a Barney hater. Now having children of my own, I understand all the love that went into making the purple dinosaur.”
I Love You, You Hate Me starts streaming on Oct. 12, 2022, on Peacock.
