Pee Wee's Big Sexual Adventure - The Media Hit on his Career

Few scandals are able to grab the big headlines as a celebrity arrest, and one case in point is the arrest of Paul Reubens, or as you probably know him as better, "Pee Wee Herman".  As a children's television superstar, being found masturbating in an adult theater could have not come as worse news to his career in Hollywood.  The newspapers and television talk shows used the incident as fodder for jokes and stories, and it came at the expense of his career in children's entertainment.

As Reubens put it, "I turned on the TV and saw people I mistakenly thought were my friends making jokes about me."

When your entire career is children's entertainment, it could be easily said that taking out your private parts in an adult theater is not a good career move.  And the press was relentless in their pursuit of this story.  It even topped headlines of Jeffrey Dahmer, mass murderer, and somehow became the lead story.  CBS immediately stopped airing Reuben's show, Pee Wee's Playhouse, merchandise was pulled from Toys R Us's shelves, and even Disney edited out his appearance in a ride at the MGM Themepark.  The effect on his career was dramatic.

Pleading no contest, Paul Reubens settled his case in court without being able to proclaim his innocence, but even then, the tools of the media were only just beginning to set their sights on celebrities and their brushes with the law in a new and more powerful medium - the internet.