The voice actor who played Barney the Dinosaur has opened up about the horrific death threats he used to get from children.
Bob West, who originally voiced the iconic purple dinosaur, is set to expose the dark side of the hit TV show in a new Peacock docuseries entitled I Love You, You Hate Me.
Advert
Although the smash-hit show was a real winner with kids in America and around the world, West has now revealed that he received death threats from people as young as 11 years of age.
"I did get some emails from some middle schoolers, which are really sad," West told E! News.
Middle schoolers are pre-teens or young teenagers, making the kids sending the Barney voice actor death threats between 11 to 14 years old.
"But I know what that was: Kids growing up and trying to throw off childhood," West added as per E! News.
Advert
"Generally, there was a lot more love than there was hate."
But instead of reacting negatively to the hate coming from some kids, West revealed he wrote most of them back out of concern for their wellbeing.
"I wrote back and most of them were like, 'I'm so sorry, I didn't know there was a real human being on the other end'," West said, as per E! News.
"Some of the kids were obviously hurting or had something going on in their lives. I tried my best to get ahold of their teachers or their computer lab person and see if we could get them some help."
Advert
I Love You, You Hate Me will shine a light not only on the hate experienced by West but also the broader cast.
Some Barney haters even founded groups online that were purely devoted to rubbishing the purple T-rex.
One such group was called 'The Jihad to Destroy Barney'.
The group was an online community in which users defeated evil versions of Barney in their own fan-fiction about the purple dinosaur.
Advert
"It was just this wonderfully developed, really complex little society that they had," West told E! News of the Jihad.
"They all had roles and they had ranks and it was this war against Barney. It was a big joke...I actually went into the group a couple of times to say hello and they were just so nice to me. It was all just for fun."
But it wasn't just the Jihad who targeted poor old Barney.
The purple dinosaur was also mocked in song parodies and comedy routines, including a sketch on Saturday Night Live that saw the character beaten up by NBA star Charles Barkley.
Advert
I Love You, You Hate Me will air on Peacock on Wednesday, October 12.
Topics: US News, Film and TV, News, Parenting