I can think of few organizations as cruel and cowardly as the Klu Klux Klan. They are cartoonish in their villainy, fighting for a perfect race of limp dicked bigots who can’t even own their awfulness. Despite their deeply held and serious beliefs, they hide their faces because they know their horseshit doesn’t pass muster with non-loser human beings. But under those hoods, they are just regular, ugly people, who probably have more in common with the people they unjustly hate than they think.
For instance, my Mom did not allow Barney in our house! She found it grating and annoying. That being said, she felt that way about a lot of children’s television that she didn’t grow up with. Still, Barney was a no-go. The Shining was on the table! I don’t remember the first time I saw Halloween because she showed it to me at such a young age, but no big purple dinosaurs who sing! No, thank you! My mother’s hatred of Barney is the only similarity she shares with the KKK (aside from being white) but luckily she hated it for different reasons.
David Joyner wore the Barney suit from 1991 to 2001 (and made a few appearances after that). He is an accomplished actor with many television credits that don’t involve Barney. The actor is also a tantric massage therapist, which was a fun thing to learn about while my computer was also blaring Berenstain Bears audiobooks this morning. David Joyner is also a proud black man, and as you may guess, learning that pissed off the losers at the KKK.
Joyner spoke about the KKK in a recent episode of Generation Barney on PBS. “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,” the actor explained. “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 that the guy inside of the Barney costume was African American, so they banned their kids from ever watching Barney again.” Ah, the quaint 90s, when someone had to go out and purchase a magazine to know what someone was referencing!
Stupid or not, having the KKK not like you is scary shit. Stupid people can do a lot of damage, especially when motivated by hatred and fear. Still, the man who was Barney scoffed at their bullshit. “I said, ‘Well actually, when I read it, I laughed.’ And he says, ‘What do you mean?’” recalled Joyner. “I said, ‘Well, it’s the Klan and I can’t change their opinion.’ I said, ‘Plus what we’re trying to do is represent love. If someone’s trying to represent hate, the last thing they want is to love. And if my skin color then changes that opinion for somebody, I can’t do anything about it because that is what it is.’”
It is both sad and inspiring to hear how Joyner handled this. No one should have their life or livelihood threatened because of the color of their skin. Still, you can’t fix or change stupid. Idiots are gonna be idiots and sometimes it’s best to laugh at their cowardly, bed-sheet-wearing, punk asses.