Joe.My.God. LGBT News
People Magazine reports:
Paul Reubens is sharing his truth from beyond the grave. In a posthumous documentary, Pee-wee as Himself, which premiered Thursday, Jan. 23 at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, the legendary comedian came out as gay after concealing his sexuality for the entirety of his career.
Before he became known for playing Pee-wee Herman, Reubens revealed he was in a relationship with a man named Guy from Echo Park, Los Angeles. In fact, some of Guy’s vocal tics inspired some of Pee-wee’s most iconic catchphrases.
One of his famous one-liners, “Mmmm! Chocolatey!” was derived from Guy’s tendency to say, “Mmmm! Buttery!” in a Yoda-like voice. The last time Reubens saw Guy, he was visiting him in the hospital as he was dying of AIDS.
The Los Angeles Times reports:
On the day before his death in 2023, Paul Reubens, the children’s entertainer better known as Pee-wee Herman, recorded a rueful statement about being labeled a “pedophile” after his bombshell arrests on indecent exposure and obscenity charges in the 1990s and 2000s.
“More than anything, the reason I wanted to make a documentary was to let people see who I really am and how painful and difficult it was to be labeled something that I wasn’t,” he says in HBO Documentary Films’ “Pee-wee as Himself.” The moment I heard someone label me as — I’m just going to say it — a pedophile, I knew it was going to change everything moving forward and backwards.”
In particular, “Pee-wee as Himself” reconsiders Reubens’ 1991 arrest for indecent exposure at an adult theater in Sarasota, Fla., to which he pleaded no contest, and his 2002 arrest for possession of child pornography — charges that were later dropped. The documentary suggests that both arrests, and the tabloid coverage they inspired, stemmed from prejudice against Reubens’ homosexuality.
The New York Post reports:
In 2001, Reubens’ home was raided and he was charged with possessing images that were thought to be child pornography. The actor, who was an enthusiastic collector of all manner of rare memorabilia, insisted the photos were “vintage erotica.” Some collections could be found in college libraries. The charges were dropped in 2004.
When the obscenity topic comes up in “Pee-wee as Himself,” onscreen text reveals that Reubens stopped cooperating with Wolf and the filmmakers and never sat down for another interview. Ever the control freak, the actor harbored concerns over how his complex story would be told.
Intensely private Reubens also kept his cancer a secret from the documentary crew throughout the filming process. His health failing, the beloved actor eventually changed his mind, decided the movie should be completed and sent his final audio message to Wolf. It’s the most heart-wrenching moment of the movie. “My whole career, everything I did and wrote, was based in love,” he says.
Watching the star-studded Pee-wee’s Playhouse Christmas Special has been a holiday tradition for my family for decades. It’s now free to view in full on YouTube.
In deathbed audio, Paul Reubens recalled the pain of being falsely labeled a pedophile in HBO Documentary Films’ “Pee-wee as Himself,” which premiered Thursday at the Sundance Film Festival.
— The Los Angeles Times (@latimes.com) January 24, 2025 at 10:20 AM
The two-part doc “Pee-wee as Himself” premiered at Sundance and it will air on HBO at some point this year. It’s a smart, sad, thoughtful and nostalgic examination of celebrity, identity and more. My review:
— Daniel Fienberg (@thefienprint.bsky.social) January 24, 2025 at 11:58 AM