I HATE YOU

Soon, however, the tide turned. Barney was the butt of jokes by late-night TV hosts and DJs. He was spoofed on The Simpsons, and a Barney lookalike was screamed at by Robin Williams in the 2002 movie Death to Smoochy. Basketball star Charles Barkley took Barney on in a brutal game of one-on-one for comedy sketch show

Saturday Night Live and the crowd went wild at every elbow to Barney’s face.

In the early days of the internet, online clubs such as the Anti-Barney League, the I Hate Barney Secret Society and the Jihad to Destroy Barney sprang up.

They shared half-joking manifestos about Barney’s plot to mould children into communists, presented mathematical “proof” that Barney was the devil, and started rumours that he was based on a serial killer from the ’30s.

A preacher from North Carolina denounced Barney as a “New Age demon” and Barney impersonators were routinely assaulted at appearances at shopping malls.

For a character who espoused a message of love, he brought out a lot of hate in people.