“There’s not much one can do”: When How I Met Your Mother star Neil Patrick Harris revealed how modern audiences could get offended by Barney

Barney Stinson from How I Met Your Mother is counted among the most iconic television characters of recent times. Played by Neil Patrick Harris, the character has become a part of pop culture over the years.

From his playbook to his ‘legendary’ dialogs, Barney not only introduced a fun element in the sitcom but also made sure to always be there for his friends. While his womanizer personality added a running joke in the series, the character is perceived as offensive by some for the way he treats his dates.

In December 2021, Neil Patrick Harris opened up about how Barney could be termed offensive in contemporary times, but the creators and he did not portray the character with any bad intent:

“Some people will be offended by it in retrospect – and there’s not much one can do in retrospect. But the experience of making that show for nine seasons was very good energy … and there was never a sense of doing things with bad intent.”

Neil Patrick Harris once talked about the modern perception of Barney from How I Met Your Mother

All through the nine seasons of How I Met Your Mother, Barney was known for his shenanigans and his creative stories. During the interview, Neil Patrick Harris revealed that Barney’s stories could all be a lie, since Ted is telling a tale to his kids in the future:

“Well, my take on How I Met Your Mother is that it was not all real. The structure of the show is future Ted telling his children the story. In doing so, he’s fictionalizing the narrative and he’s talking about his friend who was the wing man, the buddy, the guy that was always wanting to party and have fun and make any experience an event.”

Adding how Barney could be fooling his friends with his narratives, Harris stated:

“I think of Barney as this weird anti‑superhero, who when he failed would just make up a story to make him succeed.”

HIMYM aired on CBS between 2005 and 2014 and is counted among the greatest television sitcoms of the 21st century. The show has acquired a cult following over the years, though some fans remain disappointed with Barney’s misogynistic portrayal and the divisive ending of the series.

The show revolved around Ted Mosby, a New York-based architect who tells his children the story of how he met their mother after a string of failed relationships. As he dealt with romances and heartbreaks, he always had his friend group by his side, which included Barney, Robin, Marshall, and Lily.

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Apart from Neil Patrick Harris, How I Met Your Mother starred Josh Radnor as Ted Mosby, Cobie Smulders as Robin, Alyson Hannigan as Lily, and Jason Segel as Marshall. The supporting cast included Marshall Manesh as Ranjit Singh, Joe Nieves as Carl MacLaren, David Henrie as Luke Mosby, and Lyndsy Fonseca as Penny Mosby.

For more interesting features about How I Met Your Mother, keep following Soap Central.

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