Host Neil Patrick Harris speaks onstage during the 65th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards held at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on September 22, 2013 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo : Getty Images/Kevin Winter)
"How I Met Your Mother," the hit comedy series which completed nine seasons before ending in 2014, has come under fire after posing a controversial Facebook post. The post was meant to be a tribute to civil rights icon Martin Luther King on Jan. 16 (Martin Luther King Jr. Day), but it did not go down well with netizens.
The Facebook account of the show posted a re-written Barney Stinson version of MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech. For the uninitiated, Stinson was a sex-crazed womanizer on the show played by actor Neil Patrick Harris.
The controversial post included statements like, "I have a dream that all bros will rise up and live out the true meaning of their creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident - that all boobs are created pretty good,'" and, "I have a dream that one day black and white chicks will come together in my bed," went another line, and that "all tee-shirts will be wet and boob jobs will be free."
The ill-conceived post sparked backlash from people who criticized the series for rephrasing the words of the great icon in the words of a famously misogynistic television character. Some social media users pointed out that it was in poor taste to use a sexist character like Stinson to honor Dr. King, an icon who died fighting for equality.
Dr.King was assassinated in 1968 and a federal holiday is observed on the third Monday of January every year to celebrate the life and achievements of the civil rights leader. In the wake of the backlash, the controversial post was deleted but the damage had already been done.
This is not the first time the series has come under fire. The show sparked outrage among the Asian community after the show featured its main characters played by Alyson Hannigan, Cobie Smulders and Josh Radnor in yellowface and dressed up in stereotypical Asian attire.
A new "How I Met Your Mother" spin-off, "How I Met Your Father, which is told from the perspective of a female character, is currently in development at 20th Century Fox, according to TV Line. The spin-off was cancelled in 2014 after the pilot, starring Greta Garwig in the lead role and narration by Meg Ryan, was not picked up for a series order.
NBC is now handling the project with "This Is Us" writers Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger and "How I Met Your Mother" executive producers Carter Bays and Craig Thomas, according to The Hollywood Reporter. For additional details on the upcoming spin-off, watch the video below:
