Who else has a "parents ganging up on their kids' friends" story?

[Bicoastal]

Between the slumber party thread and that awful, awful Myspace incident, I think this is a phenomenon not often discussed in today's society.

But it happens. One of my best friends (call him Todd) is a guy I've known since grade school--the nicest, most generous person you'll ever want to meet. When we were little, we both hung out with a few other kids in our neighborhood in Santa Monica. Unlike us, these kids came from quite wealthy whitebread families--at the time, Todd's best friend was his across-the-street neighbor whose Dad was (and I belive still is) president of Cedars-Sinai hospital. But none of this made a difference to us when we were little--we were in the same cub scout den, played roller hockey in the street, and went on beach trips together--all with parental approval.

Then we got into middle school, and two things happened. The first is that I essentially left the group--I was a weird kid, and was out of place in a clique, especially when it became clear they weren't crazy about me either. But the second thing was that Todd was ousted against his will--by the mom of the group's 'leader." Let's call her Laura. Unbeknownst to us and for whatever reason, Laura decided he was a bad influence, and went out of her way to insure that he was left out--to the point where she scolded and punished her son for inviting him over. To this day, we have no idea why this happened--Todd was an overweight kid who listened to punk music, but then and now, he could hardly be considered threatening. I assume it was just a classist thing--he wasn't pampered and spoiled like the others, and his family didn't have a pool or every video game system known to man. But my friend was heartbroken--his own best friend's dad, the Cedars-Sanai president, was of a like mind (or at least, afraid to butt heads with Laura.) Exluded more and more, Todd drifted away from the group and was fairly miserable until High School, when the two of us outcasts reunited and found our own mutual friends.

How do I know this really happened? Because Todd has frequently told me that right after graduation, Laura's husband (the only truly decent member of that family) came up to Todd and handed him a handwritten note. That note was essentially an explanation and a personal apology--but not from Laura.