Basic Trope: Someone is mistaken for a pedophile.
- Straight:
- Alice sees Bob looking up eight-year-old Charlotte's skirt at the movies and thinks he's doing it because he's a pedophile, but really he was looking for a gumball that he'd dropped and Charlotte was just in the way.
- Alice sees Bob taking Charlotte home from the park as she struggles against him and shouts "You're not my dad!" and assumes he's abducting her, when in reality he is her babysitter and was hired by her parents.
- Exaggerated:
- Alice thinks Bob was actually having sex with Charlotte, but he'd only bumped into her and fallen on top of her.
- Charlotte is Bob's adopted daughter, and when Alice sees them playing in the park she assumes he's a creep and proceeds to attack him violently and shout at him to "rescue" Charlotte.
- Bob is dating Charlotte, a grown woman who happens to be small. Alice believes her to be a little girl despite Charlotte protesting otherwise and showing her driver's license.
- Bob is accused of being a notorious pedophile who he looks vaguely similar to, despite the pedophile in question being imprisoned after a highly public trial.
- Alice thinks everyone is a pedophile, for some reason.
- Downplayed:
- Alice thinks Bob is an ephebophile (one sexually attracted to mid-to-late adolescents) because he accidentally peeked up Charlotte's skirt while at the movies looking for his gumball and Charlotte is about fifteen.
- Bob makes an unfortunately worded statement, such as "I've touched so many kids" (in reference to "touching" in an emotional sense). Some around him are rather worried, but he quickly realizes That Came Out Wrong and corrects himself. This is not brought up again.
- Charlotte is a legal adult, but is around 18-21 and looks a bit younger. Bob is middle-aged and accidentally does something that can be interpreted as being attracted to her.
- Bob does something that is interpreted as being attracted to Charlotte, but after clarifying that's not what he was trying to do, the issue ends up being quickly resolved.
- Bob is an older teenager, but still not a legal adult (around the ages of 15-17), while Charlotte is around 13 or younger, and Alice falsely thinks that Bob is attracted to her.
- Justified: Alice is quick to assume the worst of people.
- Inverted:
- A pedophile is thought not to be one.
- Alice thinks Charlotte is sexually attracted to Bob.
- Bob is looking for his gumball at the movies and accidentally peeks up Diane's skirt. Diane is eighty and Bob's thirty-three, so Alice thinks Bob is sexually attracted to old ladies.
- Subverted:
- Bob meant to drop the gumball so he could get a look into her skirt.
- Alice reveals that she didn't actually think Bob was a pedophile, and she was mad at him for crawling on the floor at the movie theater due to being aware that he could get dirty from that.
- Double Subverted:
- That was Bob's Evil Twin, Edward.
- For some reason, he was lying about being a pedophile.
- He was under Mind Control.
- He only wanted to look under her skirt because something appeared to be stuck to it.
- After Alice finds out that Bob appeared to be looking up Charlotte's skirt, though, she gets upset.
- Parodied:
- Alice sees someone looking up Charlotte's skirt. Much later, she accuses Bob of being a pedophile based on that incident even though he wasn't on the scene and the other party looked nothing like him.
- Breastfeeding mothers and parents who have to change diapers in public are accused of being pedos.
- Zig-Zagged: Alice sees Bob looking up little Charlotte's skirt at the movies and thinks he's a pedophile but really he was just looking for a gumball … then he admits to being a pedophile in the next episode … but that was Edward pretending to be Bob … but then Bob is seen on top of Charlotte … but they just bumped into each other.
- Averted: Alice doesn't mistake Bob for a pedophile.
- Enforced:
- To set up the conflict.
- To teach An Aesop on the consequences of jumping to conclusions and falsely accusing innocent people of molesting children.
- Lampshaded:
- "She thinks I'm a pedophile, can you believe it?!"
- "Now I understand why Bob keeps his daughter's documents in hand whenever they go out."
- Discussed:Alice: Get away from that girl you creep! I'll call the police on you!Bob: You think I'm kidnapping her? This is my daughter. [Takes out wallet and shows Alice a photo of him at a hospital holding Charlotte as a newborn]Alice: Oh … I just … um …Bob: Just what? Assumed I couldn't possibly be related to this child? Or did you think all men were sex offenders? Being a widowed father is hard enough, is it too much to ask that I can take my own damn daughter to the park in peace?! Well?!Alice: I … I should go—Bob: Yeah, you do that.
- Conversed: "That character just mistook the main dude for a pedophile … hope she doesn't have him arrested."
- Implied:
- Alice's mother asks why her boyfriend, the doctor, broke up with her. An embarrassed Alice explains that her boyfriend said he was a Pediatrician and Alice "misunderstood what that word meant." The implication being she accused him of being a pedophile and he was so offended he ended the relationship.
- Alice takes Charlotte in a different room from Bob and gently asks her if Bob said or did anything that made her uncomfortable, like asking her to play games that "no one will know about." When a confused Charlotte said no, Alice said "okay" and asks her to not tell Bob that she asked her those questions before taking her back to Bob but keeps a close eye on them.
- Bob encounters Charlotte one day, and tries to befriend her. Alice appears uncomfortable for reasons that are not further explained.
- Deconstructed:
- Alice stops being friends with Bob and calls the police. Charlotte's parents also call the police.
- Bob can prove he's not a pedophile easily, but he's so angry at Alice he stops being friends with her.
- Reconstructed: Bob manages to clear things up with Alice and the police and Alice and Bob reconcile.
- Defied:
- Bob decides to avoid children, not wanting to give anyone the wrong impression.
- Alice is reasonable enough to let people she finds suspicious defend themselves and doesn't accuse anyone of being a pedophile unless she has solid evidence confirming that the person is most likely guilty of molesting children or interested in doing so.
- Played for Laughs:
- Alice considers Bob a pedophile simply because he was singing "Little Girls" by Oingo Boingo to himself. Cringe Comedy ensues as Bob tries to explain that it's just a song.
- Bob says "That's What She Said" in response to a lot of Alice's comments, including Alice berating him for his immaturity by saying "Stop that - seriously, how old are you?", leading to Alice temporarily getting the wrong idea.
- While Bob and Charlotte are in a relationship, Charlotte is Really 700 Years Old chronologically. ...Except that was what Alice meant.
- Played for Drama: Bob must prove he's not a pedophile and face against Alice, Charlotte, Charlotte's parents and the police.
- Played for Horror: Bob repeatedly stalks little Charlotte in a way that would make anyway reasonably think that he wants to molest her. However he does have a good reason, Charlotte is actually a underaged murderer, and Bob is the only one who knows.
Back to Mistaken for Pedophile.
