When I was a kid, my days were fairly well regimented. Wake up. Go to school. Play Power Rangers during recess. Back to class. Go over to a friend's house. Watch Power Rangers. Go home. Play with Power Ranger toys. Go to bed. It was rough, but it prepared me for my future (Read: I watch, read and write about movies 24/7). I would cheer whenever the Rangers put down the Putty Patrollers and stopped Rita's attempt to end the world by creating the Megazord. It was formulaic as hell, but I loved every second of it. Unfortunately it's kind of hard to have that same kind of childhood view of things when you discover the level of hatred and bigotry that was going on behind the scenes.
No Pink Spandex has posted a video interview with David Yost, who played the Blue Ranger on the original Power Rangers back in 1993, in which he says that the reason he left the show was because he is a homosexual that was abused and verbally assaulted by intolerant members of the cast and crew. To make matters worse, the whole affair left him deeply confused and fighting who he naturally was until he had a nervous breakdown. The interview is tremendously upsetting and will likely leave you unable to watch the show in the same light. But David's story should be seen. Here's Billy the Blue Ranger on the real story behind his abrupt departure from the Power Rangers and my childhood:
If true, this is a terrible story. Regardless of your color, culture, religion or sexuality, nobody on deserves that kind of treatment. The views expressed by those types of people do nothing more than pollute the world with negativity and we will never live in a peaceful world so long as such behavior is tolerated or ignored.
Lending credence to Yost's claims of homophobia on the Power Rangers set is this behind the scenes video in which you'll see a very young David Yost becoming visually uncomfortable, nervous, and irritated when Jason David Frank - who played the Green/White Ranger - comes near him.
Lastly, I’ve included two tribute videos to the Blue Ranger made by people who loved the character. We stand with you, Billy.
