Melissa Gilbert Condemns ‘Appalling’ ‘Little House On The Prairie’ 50th Anniversary Events Due To ‘Horrible Treatment Of Fans’

Actress Melissa Gilbert criticized this year’s 50th-anniversary events for the iconic 70s television show  Little House on the Prairie.

Gilbert stated that Gravel Road Markets, a company owned by anniversary event organizer Jack Bishop, advertised that she was a co-producer of various 50th-anniversary events, calling their actions “appalling.”

After she attended the Little House on the Prairie 50th Anniversary Cast Reunion and Festival in March 2024 in Simi Valley, California, Gilbert was unable to attend the rest of the tour.

“Immediately, I knew there was an issue because [Bishop] was promoting that I was going to be at all of these different places, and I wasn’t,” the actress told People. “Fans were buying tickets to see me, and I knew I wouldn’t be there.”

“I started posting on social media saying, ‘Guys, I’m not going to be there,'” Gilbert said. “People contacted him, and he told them not only was I going to be there, but I was co-producing this with him. So this is the beginning of my experience with Jack Bishop, which just meant he’s cut off, and I will not work with anyone who does this. Period, full stop.”

Additionally, Gilbert noted fans’ negative feedback on Facebook, which covered many complaints, including the lack of lighting at a dinner venue. 

She claimed that fans needed to turn on their smartphones’ lights to see the food at the buffet tables. “They ran out of food,” the actress recalled. “He oversold tickets. He didn’t pay the vendors.”

Gilbert says the Little House on the Prairie cast “completely cut ties with Jack Bishop and Gravel Roads Markets. “

“It really is a shocking affront to the fans of Little House on the Prairie,” she stated. “And I can say that if I were the owner of the IP [intellectual property], I would be infuriated because I think it really sheds a terrible light on the brand.”

Gilbert said that due to the “horrible mistreatment of the fans,” the cast chose not to continue the tour with the Gravel Roads Markets tour. 

The actress “advocated for an investigation” into Bishop. 

Back in May 2016, Gilbert had to drop her bid for a congressional seat due to the worsening of her head and neck injuries from accidents in 2012.

Last year, the actress slammed SAG-AFTRA’s new Halloween guidelines on Instagram, particularly in regard to their stance on Halloween costumes. 

She asked if the guild and its leaders “really think this kind of infantile stuff is going to end the strike” because they all “look like a joke.”