"Little House on the Prairie"'s Melissa Gilbert Reacts to Jason Bateman's Claims That He Was 'Hazed' on Set Victoria EdelSeptember 22, 2025 at 8:56 PM 3 Ted Shepherd/NBCU Photo Bank/Getty; NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Melissa Gilbert as Laura Ingalls Wilder on 'Little House on the Prairie'...
- - "Little House on the Prairie"'s Melissa Gilbert Reacts to Jason Bateman's Claims That He Was 'Hazed' on Set
Victoria EdelSeptember 22, 2025 at 8:56 PM
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Ted Shepherd/NBCU Photo Bank/Getty; NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty
Melissa Gilbert as Laura Ingalls Wilder on 'Little House on the Prairie' (left); Jason Bateman as James Cooper Ingalls (right) -
Melissa Gilbert reacted to Jason Bateman saying he was 'hazed' on the Little House on the Prairie set
Gilbert played Laura Ingalls Wilder, the older sister of Bateman's James Cooper Ingalls
Bateman was 11 when he joined the series in season 7
Melissa Gilbert had a strong reaction to Jason Bateman's comments about being "hazed" on the set of Little House on the Prairie.
In a Sept. 18 appearance on Hot Ones, Bateman, 56, talked about his time on Little House. He played James Cooper Ingalls, the second adopted son of Karen Grassle and Michael Landon's Caroline and Charles Ingalls, in seasons 7 and 8 of the series, from 1980 to 1982. He was 11 when he joined the show.
Hot Ones host Sean Evans asked him if it was true that "the older kids in the cast played an April Fool's joke on you by telling you that your character had died."
"Untrue," Bateman said. "What they did do is they pinned me down on the ground, straddled me with knees on my shoulders and gave me noogies or whatever they call it on my chest."
Evans asked, "There was a hazing ritual on Little House on the Prairie?" Bateman answered, "Yeah." He said, "They knocked on my chest like I was a front door."
NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty
The cast of 'Little House on the Prairie.' Top, left to right: Jason Bateman and Dean Butler. Center, left to right: Melissa Gilbert, Karen Grassle, Michael Landon and Matthew Laborteaux. Front, left to right: Missy Francis, Wendi Turnbaugh and Sidney Greenbush
But he ultimately turned the tables. "I went to the makeup artist and said, 'Put a big black-and-blue mark all over my chest,' " Bateman said. "And then I went to their parents and I said, 'Look what your kids did to me.' And that was good. I got them in trouble."
Gilbert, 61, saw PEOPLE's post about Bateman's experience on Instagram. She reposted the story on her page and wrote, "Who? Who did this to you?!?! I will kick their tush….no one smacks down my little bro!" She added, "#iwillcutabitch."
Gilbert played Laura Ingalls Wilder on the beloved series, beginning in 1974, when she was 10 years old. By the time Bateman joined the show and was adopted into the Ingalls family, Gilbert's Laura was married to Dean Butler's Almanzo Wilder.
Back in February, Bateman reflected on his time on Little House on an episode of SiriusXM's Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend and how it inspired him to become a director. "I was starting to really notice what this magic trick is of making fake life," he said of being a child actor. "We all look through the paper towel tube when you're a kid ... And outside that tunnel, it's stuff you can't see, the microphone and the lights and all that stuff. And so just inside that tube needs to be pristine."
Dia Dipasupil/WireImage
Jason Bateman on Sept. 16
"Michael Landon was the director, executive producer, star, writer. Everybody loved him," the Arrested Development star said. "George Clooney would be the perfect comparison today. His ease with people, with the process, with the business, with Just Joe on the street. Women are crazy about him. Guys wanna be his buddy."
"Watching him juggle all those balls and be this leader and presence on a set and be kind with people, but also be kind of a stern boss if he needs to, that was pretty inspirational," the Zootopia star added.
Back in 2024, Alison Arngrim, who played bully Nellie Oleson on the show, said during a panel at the Monte-Carlo Television Festival in Monaco that she "always felt very protected" on the Little House set.
"I always felt our crew was very protective of us children," she said.
Matthew Labyorteaux, who played Albert Quinn Ingalls, agreed. "Little House was unlike any set I'd ever been on," he said. "They were protective, they were caring and nurturing, they catered to young actors to give them a safe place to do their best."
"It's like a young athlete, or a young actor, you just can't do it on call every time," he explained. "And they would be quiet and reverent and respectful and help you do your best. And that was incredibly unusual."
Little House on the Prairie ran for nine seasons, from 1974 to 1983, and sparked three post-series films.
on People
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