Overview

• In a September 18 Hot Ones interview, Jason Bateman said older child cast members hazed him during his Little House on the Prairie tenure.
• Bateman described being pinned to the ground, straddled with knees on his shoulders, and given noogies as they knocked on his chest like a door.
• He said he asked a makeup artist to create a large bruise on his chest and then showed it to the kids’ parents to get them in trouble.
• Melissa Gilbert reposted a People story and defended Bateman on Instagram, writing a protective message that included the hashtag #iwillcutabitch.
• Bateman also denied a separate rumor about an April Fool’s death prank, and reporting notes he was about 11 and appeared in roughly 21 episodes with no perpetrators identified or corroboration reported.