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David Joyner might not be the most recognizable name to television fans, but his work as the actor inside the suit of Barney certainly is. Joyner played the benevolent purple dinosaur on “Barney & Friends” for a decade from 1991 to 2001. On a recent episode of the “Generation Barney” podcast (via Entertainment Weekly), he remembered a time when the Ku Klux Klan banned their children from watching “Barney” because Joyner is Black. The actor laughed at such ludicrousness.

“I get a call when I’m doing ‘Barney’ from my hometown news reporter, from the Decatur Herald & Review, and he asked me to comment on an article that was in Esquire magazine,” Joyner said. “I had no idea what he was talking about, so he asked me if I would go get the magazine and then give him a call with a comment. Well, in the magazine, the Klan had found out...

(This story has been edited and truncated to remove quotes that People has removed from its original story.)

Generations of parents and their grandparents run screaming from the room when the sickly sweet strains of Barney’s “I Love You, You Love Me” ooze out of televisions and iPads. But kids hate it just as much — ask any child what they think about that song and listen to them bust out a renegade version.

It’s one thing to disparage the purple dinosaur but some viewers took it to another level. “There were certain things, certain messages that people would send that were pretty threatening,” says Bob West, the original voice of Barney, on the Generation Barney podcast, as reported by People.

Some of those menacing messages came from unexpected places. “If you get a death threat from a middle school child who sends you an email, then it doesn...

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In the second hour (or “episode”) of Peacock’s I Love You, You Hate Me, a former neo-Nazi turned anti-hate activist goes for a rather big thematic swing, connecting her personal journey with the slings and arrows directed at one particularly kid-friendly purple dinosaur.

“Obviously, I’m not saying that people who hate a children’s television character are in any way the same thing as someone who embraced the things that I embraced. However the dynamics of basing your identity around what you hate and what you despise, that those dynamics are exactly the same,” she posits.

It’s a contestable but also provocative point made in contradictory and ultimately under-defended terms, and that means that it’s probably a perfect encapsulation of Tommy Avallone’s documentary.

I Love You, You Hate Me doesn’t want to be simply a hollow celebration of ’90s nostalgia,...

Two generations of children — and their parents — are familiar with the colossal purple dinosaur that frolicked across their television screens each week. The PBS series “Barney & Friends” amassed 14 seasons between 1992 and 2010 in the course of its lengthy run before coming to a flaming halt.

The reasons for the show’s initial success and accursed demise are outlined in a two-part docuseries from director Tommy Avallone, titled “I Love You, You Hate Me,” which is available for streaming on Peacock on Oct. 12.

With parallels to Sundance award-winner “Feels Good Man,” the 2020 indie documentary about Pepe the Frog that explores how a meme can be transformed from a comedic icon into a hate symbol, “I Love You, You Hate Me” delves into the lesser-known evils of the Barney bashing movement, when teenagers and adults alike began to bastardize the once-beloved character with acts of violence both physically and online.

Other figures...

Pity the purple dinosaur. He came to spread a message of love, and got the stuffing knocked out of him.

I Love You, You Hate Me, the two-part documentary series premiering on Peacock on Wednesday, explores the way Barney became a runaway hit with tots, and how the tubby T-Rex ignited one of the most devastating backlashes in pop culture history.

Director Tommy Avallone admits that as a kid, he too partook in Barney bashing.

“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,” he says. “Several years later, creating this docu-series, it feels good to be on the other side and no longer a Barney hater.”

Episode 1 excavates the dinosaur’s origins in the late 1980s. He was the brainchild of Sheryl Leach, a Texas schoolteacher and new mom...

2000: Days of our Lives' ghoul girl revealed herself.

2001: Guiding Light's Meta read the Declaration of Independence.

2002: One Life to Live featured "Babes Behind Bars."

2003: As the World Turns' Jack learned he was Sage's father."History speaks to artists. It changes the artist's thinking and is constantly reshaping it into different and unexpected images."

― Anselm Kiefer

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1955: Backstage Wife switched networks, moving from CBS Radio to NBC Radio.

1965: Actress turned news anchor Lisa Howard committed suicide with an overdose of pills at her East Hamptom home at age 35. Howard played Trudy Bauer on The Guiding Light before she...

2000: Days of our Lives' ghoul girl revealed herself.

2001: Guiding Light's Meta read the Declaration of Independence.

2002: One Life to Live featured "Babes Behind Bars."

2003: As the World Turns' Jack learned he was Sage's father."All true histories contain instruction; though, in some, the treasure may be hard to find, and when found, so trivial in quantity that the dry, shrivelled kernel scarcely compensates for the trouble of cracking the nut."

― Anne Brontë in "Agnes Grey"

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1955: Backstage Wife switched networks, moving from CBS Radio to NBC Radio.

1965: Actress turned news anchor Lisa Howard committed suicide with an...

The heart wants what it wants, and when Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato were children, their hearts wanted Barney the dinosaur.

During an interview with BBC Radio 1, the 25-year-old revealed that when she was starring on Barney & Friends in the early 2000s, she distinctly remembered having a crush on the man behind the friendly purple dinosaur.

“He was . Very much so,” the “Wolves” singer revealed, adding that she even remembered an 8-year-old Lovato commenting on how attractive he was when they were on the show together.

And for anyone who might doubt why two kids would be so...

Barney the Dinosaur has been taking up some very unexpected side projects. Vice has revealed in a new article that David Joyner, who donned the purple dino suit on the children’s TV series “Barney & Friends” from 1991 to 2001, has turned to the tantric sex and massage business for his second career. Related: First Look:...

In a surprising Where Are They Now update: actor David Joyner’s career has transitioned from Barney & Friends to owning and operating a tantric massage practice.

Though he was the character actor for the lovable purple Tyrannosaurus rex from 1991 to 2001, these days, Joyner works as a tantra massage specialist and spiritual healer, according to a recent interview with Vice.

Joyne’s massage practice has around 30 clients — or “goddesses” as the 54-year-old describes them – and charges around $350 a session which helps his “goddesses” release energy and balance their chakras.

He even admitted that both jobs share a specific similarity – how to handle the heat.

David Joyner, the man who played Barney the Dinosaur for 10 years, has a lot of stories to tell about what life was like in the big purple dinosaur suit. In a recent interview with Business Insider, Joyner talked about the difficulties that came with the heavy, now-iconic costume and how he landed the role in the first place.

"When I was a kid, I wanted to be on television so bad," he said in a clip posted to Twitter Thursday. "I would stand in front of the television and basically lip sync.

Barney may be a dinosaur from our imagination, but David Joyner is the man who brought the childhood staple to life from 1991 to 2001.

Business Insider caught up with the 53-year-old actor to chat about his time in the big purple costume, and he revealed some crazy facts about the gig, which Joyner feels was meant for him.

“Being Barney was never an accident,” he said. “I was supposed to do this character.”

This man played Barney the dinosaur for 10 years — here's what it was like pic.twitter.com/RbdrQ5UxBD

— Business Insider (@businessinsider) June 7, 2017

In fact, the actor had a...

Meet David Joyner: He played Barney on the pop-culture phenomenon/PBS show Barney & Friends from 1991 to 2001. There are some things you probably don't know about the man behind (or rather inside) the Big Purple Dinosaur—like what he looks like. And now you do (if you keep scrolling that is). But that's not all we've got for you... Business Insider had a little meet up with the now-53-year-old and delved into some unexpected topics and we thought we'd share because let's face you're dying to dive into the background of the man who danced around to the words, "I love you, you love me, we're a happy family," for a decade. So here are some other fun facts about...

When he's not showing off adorable pictures of his new son Axl, papa Josh Duhamel is busy helping those ess fortunate. Duhamel participated in Puma’s Walk/Run for Philippine's Relief this past week where hundreds of runners showed up to support of the Puma Philippine Relief Run hosted by The Lylas. The event took place at Santa Monica Beach. The goal was to raise funds for This Time Foundation and the Apl.De Ap foundation, who will distribute the funds raised to help the families in need, millions of whom have been left homeless and suffered terrible losses in the wake of the aftermath left behind by Typhoon Haiyan. Actor David Joyner acted as Mc for the event and...

The mystery is revealed! For the first time in the history of the universe (we might be guessing here) TMZ has obtained footage of Barney the purple dinosaur ... Unmasked!!! David Joyner -- who wore the famous purple Barney suit for 14 years -- crossed the finish line yesterday in Santa Monica after biking an incredible 4,000 km from Alberta Canada to L.A. It was all part of Ride for the Red -- a charity fundraiser to...