The actor David Joiner was the target of racist attacks when his name was announced as the protagonist of the children’s program “Barney and Friends”. A Ku Klux Klana white supremacist organization in the United States, even issued an order prohibiting its children from watching the series.
Joiner, a black man, was the actor behind the Barney costume, from 1991 to 2001. During his appearance on the Generation Barney podcast, he recalled what happened: “I got a call, when I was playing Barney, from a reporter from my hometown and he asked me to comment on an article that was in ‘Esquire’ magazine.”
“I had no idea what he was talking about, so he asked me if I could see the magazine and call him with a comment. Well, in the magazine, the [Ku Klux] Klan found out that the guy inside Barney’s costume was African-American, so they banned their kids from watching it again,” Joiner said.
“I said [ao repórter]: Well, actually, when I read it, I laughed,” said the actor. “I said, Well, it’s the Klan and I can’t change their minds. Also, what we’re trying to do is represent love. If someone is trying to represent hate, the last thing they want is love. And if the color of my skin changes that opinion for someone, I can’t do anything about it because it is what it is.”
Still, Joyner said he was unaffected by the racist comments. “Little did I know that I was literally training for this character, being able to leave the house with love in my heart,” he added.
