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Comment by jmclnx | Hacker News Reader

Interesting read, gained even more respect for him from this article.

Before the #MeToo movement there was a slow ramp of scandals about celebrities and for a while there every time someone posted about Fred I would recite a little litany in my head,

Pleasebegoodpleasebegoodpleasebegood

That went into overdrive after the first rumors about Bill Cosby started up. And then by John Lassiter I was a momentary wreck every time Fred made the news.

Fred Rogers has been gone long enough now that I’m more confident that he was genuinely the Nice Guy his public image paints him to be. Of course Fred Rogers sued the KKK.

Arsenio Hall had Fred on the first run of his talk show. He was agog. Major hero worship. Ended up gifting him a copy of his signature jacket. Which was even bigger on Fred than it was on Arsenio.

A better example would be Jimmy Saville, Larry Nassar, and the leaders of the Catholic Church, people who intentionally worked with children to create an opportunity to rape them.

> after the first rumors about Bill Cosby started up

2004?

I hate to be the one to have to tell you this but Fred Rogers passed away in 2003. It’s been almost two decades. No wonder we’re a mess.

Ah well I'm Canadian so I've always been more of a Mr Dressup kind of guy.

Relevant xkcd: https://xkcd.com/767/

Somewhere in a highly secure secret government facility is a recording of Fred Rogers saying, “I’m not angry, I’m just disappointed.”

If I suddenly stop posting here in two days time it’s because They came for me. Please contact Amnesty International.

Fred's family maintains that when he was annoyed, he would express it... in a Lady Elaine voice.

I enjoy casually horrifying people by mentioning that Fred Rogers had 2 children.

Which means that he at least occasionally did the nasty.

Joanne is still here, and did a lot of work making sure Fred's projects had the forward direction he'd have wanted after he passed away.

She's an absolute delight and an accomplished pianist in addition to her other accolades.

She passed away last year, but I remember her doing some press the last few years, and was always delightful. She seemed a little mischievous in a way that seemed like it would have offset Fred's near-saintly disposition.

I missed that. Thank you for bringing it to my attention.

He was very mischievous too in his own way... I'm not surprised they were such a good match.

I mention that he was a lifelong Republican.

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