West Virginia will remove a statue of actor and comedian Don Knotts that is located in his hometown of Morgantown, WV.
Knotts, is best known for his role as Barney Fife, the bumbling deputy on The Andy Griffith show. His film roles include ‘The Ghost and Mr. Chicken’, ‘The Apple Dumpling Gang’, & ’The Incredible Mr. Limpet’. Knotts was also a trained Shakespearean actor and won a Tony award for his portrayal of Othello.
It was his role as Barney Fife, however, that caused many protestors to demand the statues removal. “Barney Fife, was a nervous, twitchy little man with an itchy trigger finger” said protestor Joanne Miller. “He was dirty. He was always sniffling, so he was probably on cocaine or hopped up on goofballs or something. He was always looking to shoot someone with his one bullet. Thank God Andy was there to control this madman or Goober or Otis might have gotten shot. I bet he was racist too, if there were ever any black people on the show we would have known.”Don Knotts Statue in Morgantown, West Virginia
Barney was written up many times and was an incident waiting to happen. After numerous misfires, Andy restricted Barney to carrying his gun unloaded, with only one bullet in his shirt pocket, “in case of an emergency.” However, Barney tends to load his gun unnecessarily, and often ends up firing it into the floor, the ceiling, or his own gun holster.
Psychologist Carl Reznick, described Barney Fife as, “outwardly smug and self-important, covering up his insecurities and low self-confidence with a display of bravado. He presents himself as an expert on such diverse subjects as firearms, martial arts, women, singing, wilderness survival, psychology and American history. He frequently tries to impress others with his knowledge or skill in areas where his expertise is actually quite limited. He wishes to be perceived as ‘a man of the world,’ but he is actually quite naïve, and his fear of appearing ignorant leaves him easily duped.”null
Furious Andy Griffith fans responded by writing angry posts on social media. Cindy Spivak posted in an Andy Griffith fan group, “This is an outrage, Barney Fife is a fictional character. What’s next!? ‘Car 54 Where Are You?’, ‘Barnaby Jones’, ‘Murder She Wrote’, ‘Matlock’!? This is my Pearl Harbor. I demand a civil war now!”
*BTW – This is Satire – Names, characters, business, events and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental !
By MadhouseMagazine.com
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