Melissa Gilbert doesn’t mince words when it comes to Little House on the Prairie the cast’s decision to stop participating in the 50th anniversary events.
Cast members – including Gilbert, Alison Arngrim, Karen Grassle, Dean Butler, Charlotte Stewart and Matthew Labyorteaux among others – announced on Friday, September 6 that they are canceling events in Tennessee, Missouri and Texas. The cancellation was prompted after they attended “poorly organized and executed events” in Connecticut and Pennsylvania, according to a press release issued by the cast on Oct. 1.
According to the statement, the actors sent a letter to event organizer Jack Bishop and his company Gravel Road Markets LLC stating that they “will no longer endorse, promote or appear at Gravel Road Markets, LLC events.”
The cast also requested that Bishop and Gravel Road Markets “remove our names and images from sales and marketing materials supporting all upcoming Little House on the Prairie 50th Anniversary events produced or promoted by Gravel Road Markets, LLC.”
PEOPLE caught up with Gilbert, who said Gravel Road Markets allegedly advertised the actress as a co-producer for various 50th anniversary events — a move she calls “horrible.”
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Melissa Gilbert signs autographs at the ‘Little House on the Prairie’ 50th Anniversary Reunion and Festival in Simi Valley, California in March 2024.
VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty
After attending Little House on the Prairie A cast reunion and 50th anniversary festival in March 2024 in Simi Valley, California in March, Gilbert was unable to do the rest of the tour.
“I immediately knew there was a problem, because [Bishop] promoted that I was going to be in all these different places, and I wasn’t,” Gilbert claims. “Fans were buying tickets to see me and I knew I wasn’t going to be there.”
“I started posting on social media saying, ‘Guys, I’m not going to be there,'” she continues. “Apparently people contacted him and he said, not only am I going to be there, but I’m co-producing this with him. So this is the beginning of my experience with Jack Bishop, which just meant that he was cut and that I won’t work with anyone who does. Period, period.”
Bishop did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
Gilbert, 60, also addressed the critical feedback from fans on Facebook, which covered a number of complaints, including the lack of lighting at the dinner venue. Gilbert claims fans had to use their smartphone lights to see the food at the buffets.
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Fans at the ‘Little House on the Prairie’ 50th Anniversary Reunion and Festival in Simi Valley, California in March 2024.
VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty
“As the tour progressed and once they [fans] reached Pennsylvania, as I understand it, it became a nightmare,” Gilbert claims. “They ran out of food. He resold the tickets. He didn’t pay the sellers.”
As a result, Little House on the Prairie the cast “completely cut ties with Jack Bishop and Gravel Roads Markets,” says Gilbert.
“It’s a really shocking insult to the fans Little House on the Prairie,” Gilbert said. “And I can say that I am the owner of the IP [intellectual property]I would be furious because I think it really shines a terrible light on the brand.”
Gilbert says that due to the “horrible mistreatment of the fans,” the cast decided not to continue the tour with Bishop. The actress “advocated for an investigation” into Bishop. She, along with several others she declined to name, launched an independent investigation into Bishop and his actions. After the investigation is complete, the group will decide whether to involve a lawyer or the police.
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In an Oct. 1 press release, the cast claimed that Bishop failed to notify event-goers of the cancellation. He apparently listed the event on Eventbrite as “sold out,” not “cancelled,” according to the cast.
Fans reportedly arrived in Keystone, SD on September 27-29, and “similar mischaracterization” affected fans in Lyles, Tenn. from September 13 to 15.
“Now, Jack Bishop is seemingly refusing to announce the cancellation of his Little House events in Branson, MO (Nov. 15-17) and Corsicana, TX (Dec. 6-8),” the statement read, adding that Bishop “seems exploiting Little House fans.”
The cast encouraged fans to “seek clarification” from Eventbrite about their purchase.
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