Barney Stinson ‘legendary’ moments that actually went too far

One of the most-loved sitcoms is How I Met Your Mother. It follows Ted Mosby as he tells his kids the story of how he met their mother. The show is filled with many legendary running jokes such as “the Slap Bet”, “the Doppelgangers”, and “eating a sandwich”.

Also, Barney Stinson’s catchphrases are also ones that made a mark on the show. It is often followed by his quests in which he proclaims as legendary. But looking into it, some of them are extremely problematic, making him go over the line.

Do these ‘legendary’ acts are even worth sacrificing one’s own moral compass?

He stole Ted’s truck with all of his belongings.

We know that Barney was concerned about Ted and Robin’s living situation. During the second season, Ted and Robin planned on moving in together and clearly, Barney was against it. He seemed eager to do things no matter how extensive in order to sabotage their plan. Seeing that talking to Ted wasn’t enough, he went out of his way to steal Ted’s belongings. He even claimed it as his own and brought a woman over to hang out in it.

Barney Stinson dressed up as a lesbian to pick up women.

Included in his so-called ventures is his Playbook. This book is a collection of his quests on how to “pick up” women. While some are just negligible, others are extremely concerning. There was an instance where he dressed up as a lesbian. It was normal for him to treat lesbians as something intrinsically sexual. It makes him think that men needed to conquer them just to satisfy their own ego and their legendary quests. The behavior towards lesbians just plainly reeks of homophobia.

He sold a woman.

“At one point, I’m pretty sure I sold a woman. I didn’t speak the language, but I shook a guy’s hand. He gave me the keys to a Mercedes, and I left her there.”

These were Barney’s exact words when looking back at his past hookups. During the episode “Brackets”, there was a woman who warned Barney’s targets to avoid him. This led to the gang investigating who it was, even making a bracket listing down every woman Barney could remember. When arguing who in the list experienced the worst from Barney, he brought up the topic that he even sold a woman. Yikes.

The Naked Man

There was an episode dedicated to the Naked Man. It follows a guy named Mitch, who supposedly was Robin’s date at the time. When Robin was outside of the apartment for a while, Mitch did the act of the Naked Man. The name speaks for itself, all you will do is just strip down naked and surprise your date. Of course, the gang tried to do it and while some didn’t get into trouble for it, Barney did. He was kicked out of the woman’s apartment without even having the chance to get his clothes. Talk about being ‘legendary’. This surely was a way of telling him that stripping down and flashing yourself to a date or a partner is just wrong.

He records women without consent.

On the topic of consent, Barney really does not respect this value. He may have the privilege to acquire modern technology, but he uses it in obscene and horrible ways. From creating a moving bed to “get rid” of his hookups to setting up a camera that points toward the bed. When asked by a partner about it, he just lies and tells her that the lights are off, indicating that it doesn’t work. Also, he constantly talks about tricking drunk girls to sleep with him. Implying that he could take advantage of them while they were intoxicated.

Barney ruining Marshall’s bachelor party.

During Marshall’s bachelor party, they planned a simple trip toward Foxwoods. Of course, Ted and Marshall didn’t tell Barney that they switched it from Atlantic City, they knew that he would ruin it. But guess what, Barney still did, thinking that he could bring his legendary touch unto it. He went out of his way to ruin their plan by hiring an exotic dancer and leaving a cigarette lit up in the room. This triggered the fire alarm while they were away for dinner and it caused them to be kicked out of the hotel room.

Barney’s engagement to Robin.

Pretty much almost every act in the Playbook is really problematic. This includes the secret final addition to it, “The Robin”. He manipulated Robin and did everything to trick her into saying yes. Reading the 16-step act of playing with Robin’s feelings really does make one sick to their stomach. In the end, they didn’t even end up together.