Kiefer Sutherland Shuts Down Stand By Me Bullying Claims During Reunion With Jerry O’Connell

“Absolutely not true,” Sutherland said in response to claims he bullied the film’s younger actors on set. “First of all, I’m not that kind of actor and I wouldn’t want to be that kind of person.”

While appearing on The Talk Thursday, the 57-year-old actor reunited with his co-star, Jerry O’Connell. While the moment proved to be a fun one for fans of the cult classic movie, Sutherland was met with a few questions about his behavior while filming.

O’Connell’s co-host, Natalie Morales, asked the 24 alum to fact-check a viral social media post that alleged he bullied the film’s young actors to keep in character while off-camera — an allegation Sutherland vehemently shut down.

“Absolutely not true,” Sutherland said. “First of all, I’m not that kind of actor and I wouldn’t want to be that kind of person.”

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“I spent a lot of time with River Phoenix because we both played guitar, and so that was kind of an in to him,” he continued. “Even though I was seven years older, we were both beginning, right? And so there was a lot of discussion about ‘How do you develop a character?’, ‘What is your process?'”

The film, adapted from Stephen King’s 1982 novella The Body, follows four friends — played by the late Phoenix, O’Connell, Corey Feldman and Wil Wheaton — who go looking for the rumored location of the dead body of a missing boy, in hopes of becoming local heroes, during the summer of 1959.

Discussing his “process” with The Talk hosts, Sutherland said looking back, he wishes he actually spent more time with his younger co-stars, some of whom he didn’t even get to work with.

“Actually, it’s very funny that at the age of 17, which I was in Stand By Me, I had probably a more in-depth process than I even do now. But we didn’t get to work together,” Sutherland said of O’Connell.

O’Connell admitted that he hadn’t realized how young Sutherland was during filming.

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“I felt like you were like 40… I just thought you were the most grown-up person,” he quipped before also setting the record straight on those bullying rumors.

“Now, I will say that Kiefer did not bully us, there was no bullying. But Kiefer, I was so scared of you,” O’Connell added.

While the 50-year-old daytime series host previously responded to the viral post seemingly confirming that the bullying took place, his comment was very much made in jest, which isn’t too uncommon for the funny man.

Sutherland also recalled running into O’Connell “about 10 years after” working together.

“Someone said, ‘Oh, you should go say hi, that’s Jerry O’Connell.’ And I said, ‘No it’s not.’ We said hello and I gave you a big hug and then I walked away and looked at my friend and went, ‘Wow, he’s got a lot better trainer than I do.'”

After the interview, Sutherland shared a photo of him and O’Connell on Instagram, sweetly captioning the post, “Got to visit with an old friend this morning on @thetalkcbs. @mrjerryoc … fantastic!”

O’Connell’s reunited with some of his other castmates over the years, including Feldman, who he teamed up with in 2021 to celebrate the film’s 35th anniversary.

Of their film and the place it has in pop culture history, O’Connell told Entertainment Tonight, “It’s like a badge of honor having been a part of Stand by Me. Because it’s not just a good movie — it’s not like people just come up to me and go, ‘Hey, man, that movie was great!’ — They usually stop me [and] they pull me aside and say, ‘Stand by Me meant so much to not only me, but to my dad, to my kids.'”

“It’s just one of those [things], it spans generations,” he added.