The children’s songs featured in “Barney & Friends” irked some people so intensely that the musical director received numerous death threats.
Bob Singleton and his family received multiple death threats after he produced some of the songs intended for young audiences, he said in the “Generation Barney” podcast Monday.
“When I was nominated for a Grammy, a local talk radio station said, ‘Hey, this is great,’” Singleton said. “Then someone called in and said, ‘I wish I could get my hands around the neck of that guy. I would just, I would really like to take him out.’”
Singleton said he didn’t realize the songs he created for the purple dinosaur to sing would become such a subject of hatred for some adults. The infectious tunes were centered around friendship, community and close bonds, which annoyed some of his critics.
He said that after the show’s inception in 1992, internet culture became more prevalent and he began to receive troubling emails and verbal threats. Singleton said people would discuss the show online and reach out to him in an unfriendly manner.
“My email address was out there, and I was getting people sending me emails — that [were] threatening me and my family with horrible, horrible death and dismemberment and terrible things,” Singleton said in podcast’s second episode.
HOLLYWOOD – AUGUST 18: Barney the dinosaur greets the audience during the Hollywood Radio and Television Society’s 10th Annual Kids Day 2004 show on August 18, 2004 at Hollywood and Highland’s grand ballroom in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Vince Bucci/Getty Images)
He admitted to feeling fearful in the face of such hatred.
“It was frightening. I remember going to a luncheon once and they’ve got us sat at a table. I said I had been the music director on Barney and this one guy — and I’m sure he was well-meaning — said ‘Wow, my kids loved you but I just wanted to kill you,’” Singleton recalled.
He said he didn’t know how seriously to take the threat, which created a tense environment. (RELATED: Jelly Roll’s Wife Reveals Unwelcome Interactions With Convicted Murderer)
“In that moment, I have to think, ‘Okay, is this somebody that I need to watch for in the parking lot, you know?’ Or is he just, is that just his way of going, ‘My kids liked it, I didn’t.’ So it was awkward,” he said.
