10 Formerly Great Film Roles That Are Horribly Awkward Today
4. Pee Wee's Big Adventure Paul Reubens
Masturbating in a porn theatre really doesn't sound that odd. Why else does Porn exist? It isn't made for the interesting character arcs or intense story lines; it is created for the sole purpose of titillation. Even though you may think it is part and parcel for a porn theatre that masturbation will take place, it's actually very much illegal and considered indecent exposure. After being caught committing such a crime in 1991 in a Florida porn house, Paul Reubens who at the time was one of the biggest child friendly stars began his spiralling descent into infamy. It was of course national news and his mugshot was shown alongside his wacky alter-ego Pee-Wee Herman on every News network across America. He followed up his 1991 actions with an arrest in 2002 for possession of child pornography among his large collection of erotica he pleaded not guilty, arguing the teen nudes in his possession were innocent art, and a witness stating that as a collector buying vintage homosexual erotica in bulk, Reubens had no idea what would be on each page when he bought it. However, he did accept a lesser charge, meaning he had to register his address with the sheriff's office and couldn't be in the company of minors without their parents' permission. Rueben was once one of the biggest children's entertainers in American Television, yet these tawdry cases in his private life brought his whole world crashing down. As a result, it makes watching anything where he is acting zany (basically all the time in the case of Pee Wee's Big Adventure) very toe-curling to witness. Take the knowledge into Tim Burton's now cult film (which predates the charges) and it is almost impossible not to think about it and come out the other side feeling very unclean.
