Whats your opinion on ihof pete and billy ? Alot of people dismiss that era and don't take it as seriously as they should , so I'm wondering what you think of that horrible gameshow host
Hi! First of all I’m sorry for answering only now, but there was so much discourse going on abt those two and I was gen fed up with allat so I left most of Pete&Billy asks unanswered… Until now!
Personally, I think not taking what happened in IHOF seriously means doing a huge disservice to both of them, because what happened back then is pretty crucial for their relationship as a whole.
I’m gonna touch on some heavier subjects including (nonsexual!!!!) grooming and child financial exploitation below so if you’re uncomfortable reading abt that, don’t go under the cut.
Just to cover the bases, notinourcommunity(.)org defines grooming as ‘...a process of getting someone ready to do whatever is asked of them by their abuser. It means working to build an emotional connection, complete trust and reliance, often isolating the victim completely from their support network – friends, family etc.’ so when I’m talking abt grooming, this is what I mean okay??? And tbh, that’s exactly what Pete did back then.
White didn’t even have to try that hard to win Billy over because Billy’s been isolated from his peers, both because of his visible disability and because of his intelect. Despite him being incredibly booksmart, though, Billy lacked any real experience beyond breezing thru his education and whatever his overprotective mom allowed, which probably wasn’t much and the combo of those factors made him especially vulnerable to manipulation from more experienced ppl, esp if they were in the position of power.
BTW He was super good at the game even on his own, he didn’t need to cheat! His streak in the underground fights was perfect! But when White handpicked him for that cheating scheme, Billy was explicitly chosen, which must’ve felt pretty great for an unpopular kid who went to prom w his mother, right? So with the cheating secret plot, White fostered this us vs. them mentality that was the basis for the underground quiztrip when the whole thing blew up, and it's clear Billy trusted Pete completely for the duration of their trip up until the dog fight incident, despite knowing from the other quizboys his manager's stealing from him.
Also we all saw what kind of person Rose is and I doubt she’d be okay with Billy randomly going on a roadtrip with someone she didn’t know and trust, even if they lied to her abt how they’re gonna make the money back… So that means White must’ve been close enough with the family for her to allow Billy going, because if that weren’t the case, I’m certain she’d raise hell to get her boy back from what she’d consider an after show kidnapping, so idk…. Pete doesn’t deserve forgiveness for what he did if u ask me.
tl;dr, What we saw of IHOF was 100% one of the lowest points for Pete, bcause it takes a special kind of person to whisk away a vulnerable teenager and put them in various unsafe situations just so he could shamelessly steal their profits, and even if those actions were fuelled by Pete’s active addiction, it excuses nothing.
Also, while the ending of the episode makes me feel a LOT, the right thing for Pete would be to find a way to return Billy to his mother, wouldn’t it? But he’s so afraid of consequences he’d rather gaslight the amnesiac kid to stay w him indefinitely, and it pisses me off he never took any real accountability for what he’s done. Instead, he gets to financially exploit Billy for the next 20+ years :) happy ends for shitty ppl...
hey do u happen to have the full un-scribbled picture of melanated pete? for science.
if it's for science... lowk for notwerner's ship chart i was originally going for 'i dgaf abt him >:(' joined w a lovingly penciled portrait of pete while everyone else would be a stick figure at best buuut then i decided i wanted more yapping LOL so in the end i went with the universal experience of randomly drawing your crush in a way that says way more abt you than it does abt them and then destroying it in v embarrassed kind of horror ASAP before someone sees 🌹