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Pee-wee Herman Star Paul Reubens Recalls the 'Painful' Memory of Being Falsely Labeled a 'Pedophile' on His Deathbed

In the upcoming HBO docuseries 'Pee-wee as Himself', which premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, Paul Reubens recalls the "painful" memory of being falsely labeled a "pedophile" following his two arrests.

In the upcoming HBO docuseries Pee-wee as Himself, the late actor — who died of cancer on July 30, 2023 — opened up about being labeled a “pedophile” after being arrested on charges of indecent exposure in 1999 and possessing materials depicting children under the age of 18 engaged in sexual conduct in 2002. “More than anything, the reason I wanted to make a documentary was to let people see who I really am and how painful and difficult it was to be labeled something that I wasn’t,” he says in the docuseries, which debuted at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival on Thursday, Jan. 23, per The Los Angeles Times. “I wanted to talk about and have some understanding of what it’s like to be labeled a pariah, to have people scared of you, or unsure of you, or untrusting, or to look at what your intentions are through some kind of filter that’s not true,” Reubens shares in the recording.

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