Longtime “The Price Is Right” producer Roger Dobkowitz defended Bob Barker amid damning allegations in the “Dirty Rotten Scandals” documentary.
Dobkowitz, who labored on greater than 4,600 episodes of the sport present in a 36-year span, shared a prolonged social media statement saying he tried to keep away from commenting on the “obvious ‘hit piece’” and hoped the sequence would “quietly disappear.”
Two episodes of the six-part E! sequence centered on the long-running CBS present and featured interviews with “Barker’s Beauties” fashions who claimed they both skilled or witnessed sexual harassment, retaliation or a hostile work surroundings.
“Many of my friends have asked me for my comments in regards to the E documentary that was recently shown on their network,” Dobkowitz wrote. “However, up until now, I avoided commenting on it because I didn’t want to add any social traction to such an obvious ‘hit piece’. The ‘documentary’ should just quietly disappear into the bottom of a TV equivalent of a waste basket along with all the other forgotten so-called ‘exposes.’”
Dobkowitz acknowledged this system “doesn’t seem to have received much traction anyway” earlier than claiming that “fewer people care” or keep in mind “probably since the purported incident took place 30 years ago on a daytime game show.”
“I feel it is OK for me to reveal my thoughts and, most importantly, defend the dignity and integrity of our great show,” he wrote. “This so-called ‘expose’ makes me understand that there are some folks in this world who will fortunately exaggerate and create falsehoods in order to justify a private hateful vendetta against an individual in order to attract consideration to themselves.
“Making the situation worse is the fact that the accused is deceased, and therefore, making it impossible for the accused to defend himself. The adjective ‘brave’ should never be used in reference to a person attacking a dead person.”
He wrote, “Most folks in society and people transfer on with their lives, particularly after court docket rooms have settled disputes and they’re closed. Most individuals are blissful {that a} headache in their lives is over.
“Such closure is usually a life-marker to remind the person to grow and put things behind them. When someone feels the compulsion to constantly bring it up for another 30 years is a sign that something could be wrong with their capacity to reason maturely.”
Dobkowitz mused the thought of writing a ebook about his 36 years with the present, which would come with “36 years of observations with Bob, the models, and the staff,” and certain “clear up lots of misconceptions and dismiss many wrongful accusations.”
“The show was a happy place … our working environment was the envy of other shows. Staff rarely quit … the dozens of women who were in our repertoire of models came back year after year, happy to be on our show,” he wrote.
“The only unhappy people, as would be found in any company, were the ones that didn’t get the raise they wanted, the ones that didn’t get the promotion they thought they deserved, and the ones that were terminated for not doing their job. Of course, we did have a small handful of those people, but far, far, less than other companies had.”
He added, “I was there for 36 years. I was on that stage.”
Barker, who hosted the present for 35 years, died in 2023 at age 99.
“Barker’s Beauties” mannequin Holly Hallstrom appeared on the present from 1977 till she was fired in 1995, a choice she has stated was blamed on weight acquire brought on by medicine. However, Hallstrom alleges she was truly dismissed after declining to publicly help Barker when fellow mannequin Dian Parkinson filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against him in 1994.
She then spent almost a decade locked in a authorized battle after Barker sued her for defamation, in accordance with Business Insider. She countersued, alleging defamation together with claims of emotional misery and discrimination.
Hallstrom stated she was successfully blacklisted in the leisure trade and pushed to the brink financially, in accordance with the outlet. She additionally declined settlement gives, saying she refused to be silenced by a nondisclosure settlement.
Barker persistently denied wrongdoing and maintained that any relationships have been consensual.
