Legendary — and oft-controversial — actor Paul Reubens, most famous for his Pee-wee Herman character, has died at age 70 after a non-public battle with cancer.
“Last night we said farewell to Paul Reubens, an iconic American actor, comedian, author and producer whose beloved character Pee-wee Herman delighted generations of kids and adults together with his positivity, whimsy and belief within the importance of kindness,” a statement on his official Instagram account read.
While well-known for that iconic role, he’s also remembered for several sex scandals, including his infamous 1991 arrest for indecent exposure at a Florida porn house, in addition to allegations in a toddler pornography case.
According to the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office, in 1991, detectives went to the XXX South Trail Cinema to look at the audience for a triple bill of “Catalina Five-O,” “Tiger Shark, Nurse Nancy” and “Turn Up the Heat.”
The officers hauled in three men — including Reubens — on charges of violating Florida State Statute 800.03 (Exposure of Sexual Organs) at midnight theater.
The star allegedly offered to perform a children’s profit for the sheriff’s office if the costs were dropped; nonetheless, a department spokesman on the time said that the deputies didn’t feel that they’d enough probable cause to charge him with attempted bribery.
“Well, obviously I wasn’t pondering. You recognize?” said Reubens — whose character was featured in various iterations including “The Pee-wee Herman Show,” “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure” and “Pee-wee’s Playhouse” — in a 2004 interview with NBC News.
“I actually wasn’t pondering to myself you’re a children’s show host. Your show remains to be on television. I wasn’t making those lists. I felt like they were insinuating like, well, I used to be sitting in, you already know, a darkened movie show, in my Pee-Wee suit … That didn’t appear to be a criminal offense to me. It didn’t appear to be anyone’s business but my very own.”
Within the wake of his arrest, on July 29 of 1991, CBS announced that it was pulling reruns of “Pee-Wee’s Playhouse,” and Disney-MGM Studios in Florida suspended a tape of Pee-wee’s voice from its studio tour narration.
Toys ‘R’ Us also removed Pee-wee toys from stores.
In a move that will now seem ironic, Bill Cosby was among the many celebrities who defended Reubens on the time: “Whatever [Reubens has] done, that is being blown all out of proportion,” Cosby said.
Cyndi Lauper — who voiced the “Pee-wee’s Playhouse” theme song — also said that it was a “victimless occurrence.”
“It was form of like a mortifying form of situation, where I felt like, you already know, individuals are laughing at me,” Reubens told NBC News. “I’m knowledgeable comedian. I’ve never claimed to have the opportunity to take it nearly as good as I dish it out, ever. I mean, I’m just sensitive.”
Reubens told Vanity Fair that following that arrest, while he never “contemplated anything like suicide, I see how one could.”
Then, in 2002, Reubens was charged with possessing images that were initially characterised as child porn.
On Nov. 16, 2001, police searched Reuben’s home within the Hollywood Hills. They seized boxes of materials that his spokesperson characterised as “vintage erotica.”
Blair Berk, Reubens’ lawyer, said the costs were “unfaithful and without merit,” and Reubens’ publicist, Kelly Bush, said the “handful of images” got here from greater than 10,000 vintage magazines seized from the actor’s home, a few of which were three many years old.
The fees were dropped in 2004 when he pleaded guilty to a lesser obscenity charge.
At the identical time, his friend Jeffrey Jones (“Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”) was charged with possession of kid pornography and a felony count of employing a minor for purposes of taking explicit photos.
The fees against the actors got here from an investigation that police said began a 12 months prior to the arrests, with accusations from a 17-year-old boy.
“The moment that I spotted my name was going to be said in the identical sentence as children and sex, that’s really intense,” said Reubens.
“That’s something I knew from that very moment, whatever happens past that time, something’s on the market within the air that is absolutely bad.”
Before his charges were dropped, Reubens’ lawyer had determined that a tape seized from one other case had been included within the evidence against Reubens.
He was fined $100, receiving three years probation and agreeing to register as a sex offender.
“I’m glad the prosecutors finally dismissed the kid pornography charge without me or the taxpayers having to pay for a costly circus-like trial,” Reubens said in a press release.
“I’m upset any a part of my art collection was ever deemed inappropriate. Taking responsibility by calling a couple of images on this collection ‘obscene,’ and paying a $100 positive gave the look of the sanest option to make it end.”
In 2004, he told NBC News, “I don’t want anyone for one second to think that I’m titillated by images of kids. It’s not me.
“You may say a lot of things about me. And you would possibly. The general public might imagine I’m weird. They could think I’m crazy or anything that anyone desires to take into consideration me. That’s all positive. So long as one in all the stuff you’re not excited about me is that I’m a pedophile. Because that’s not true,” he continued.
“I probably have develop into more infamous from two misdemeanors than probably anyone I could consider.”
In announcing his passing on Monday, the Instagram post included a quote from Reubens that was to be shared together with his fans after his death.
“Please accept my apology for not going public with what I’ve been facing the last six years. I actually have at all times felt an enormous amount of affection and respect from my friends, fans and supporters,” it read. “I actually have loved you all a lot and enjoyed making art for you.”
