Corey feldman and barbara walters
Executive summary
Corey Feldman says a 2013 appearance on The View with Barbara Walters remains “like a knife in the heart” because Walters accused him of “damaging an entire industry” after he named alleged predators in Hollywood, a moment he now calls “shocking” and “off base” [1] [2]. Feldman has repeatedly framed that exchange as emblematic of how powerful institutions and figures treated survivors who spoke out, and he says he never received an apology from Walters before her death in 2022 [2] [3].
1. The exchange that reverberated: what happened on The View in 2013
On an October 2013 segment of The View, Feldman told hosts that people who abused him and Corey Haim were “still working” and among “the richest, most powerful people in this business,” and when Barbara Walters asked, “Are you saying that they’re pedophiles?” Feldman answered “yes,” after which Walters warned he was “damaging an entire industry,” a line that resurfaced and sparked debate when context and timing were reframed online [2] [4] [5].
2. Feldman’s reaction years later: hurt, surprise and no reconciliation
In interviews about the resurfaced clip, Feldman described being “shocked” that a journalist he admired could respond in a way he saw as dismissive, saying the exchange “gave everybody the feeling that she was either part of it or covering up for it,” and noting he never received an apology from Walters before she died in 2022 [1] [6] [3].
3. The stakes Feldman says he was raising: naming predators and protecting child actors
Feldman has presented his comments as a warning to parents and a bid to expose an alleged system that allowed child-targeting adults access at parties, awards events and children’s charity functions, claims he explored more fully in his memoir and a 2020 documentary, My Truth: The Rape of Two Coreys, which itself faced distribution problems and controversy [5] [2].
4. How the clip was used and interpreted in later cycles of reporting
The Walters–Feldman exchange has been repeatedly recirculated, notably during broader waves of allegations against powerful Hollywood figures, and media outlets and social users have framed Walters either as an inadvertent skeptic doing hard journalism or as emblematic of institutional reflexes that protect the industry — interpretations that vary by outlet and audience [7] [5].
5. Competing readings: journalistic caution vs. survivor advocacy
Supporters of Walters’ style argue a journalist’s duty includes testing claims to avoid false accusations, while survivor advocates and Feldman’s defenders view the line about “damaging an entire industry” as silencing and harmful to victims trying to name abusers; reporting shows both readings exist in public debate but does not resolve which moral calculus was “right” in that moment [2] [6].
6. What the reporting does — and does not — establish
The contemporary accounts reliably document the exchange, Feldman’s later reflections and his view that the interaction was “off base” and painful; the sources do not provide independent corroboration here for specific named perpetrators within Feldman’s claims beyond his testimony, and they do not record a response or apology from Walters before her death [1] [2] [3].
7. Why the moment still matters in cultural conversation
The resurfaced clip persists because it crystallizes tensions between protecting reputations and believing alleged survivors, and because Feldman’s public campaign — including interviews, a memoir and a documentary — keeps the question of accountability in Hollywood visible; different outlets and social communities use the clip to support broader narratives about media responsibility or institutional failure [5] [2] [6].