Balloon Boy Suffering From Media Exposure, Low Altitude Sickness?
As predicted, Balloon Boy began cashing in on his fifteen minutes of fame with an all-star interview line-up: CNN's Wolf Blitzer, NBC's Meredith Vieira, and ABC's Diane Sawyer. All segments were given from the comfort of Balloon Boy's Colorado home, surrounded by his family and punctuated by on-camera gastro-intestinal discomfort. So what's the deal: was Balloon Boy suffering from nerves, the overwhelming stress of being the pawn in his parents' publicity stunt, or is he just a weird little kid?
Answer: All of the above!
Nerves
During his Today Show segment, instead of adorably responding to Meredith Vieira's questions, Balloon Boy sunk into his father's shirt as his dad did all of the heavy lifting. Falcon feverishly stuck his tongue out and swung his head below camera view before interrupting his father's answer to say, "Mom, I need a cup" and promptly yakking into said container. As Today Show producers pulled out for a wider angle to capture Balloon Boy's next vomit in entirety, Falcon's family emitted an audible, "Eww!" In the GMA segment, Falcon jumped up mid-interview to vomit off-camera.
Publicity Stunt
During a Wolf Blitzer interview, Falcon's father, Richard Heene gently posed all of CNN's questions to his son. After Falcon was asked why he did not respond to his parents' shouts of his name while he was holed up in the attic, Balloon Boy eschewed the answers fed to him by his parents and went rogue. Sandwiched between his father, his clueless brothers, and his mother, Mayumi Heene, Falcon spilled, "You guys said, uh, we did this for the show." Blitzer followed up about the hoax but Richard Heene grew irritated, said he was "appalled" by the line of questioning, and revealed that was hesitant to even conduct CNN's interview.
Weird Little Kid
In the following homemade rap video, watch as Falcon and his brothers play the air guitar, burp into the camera, and gnaw on beef jerky during their incomprehensible song. Making things even weirder is the fact that the song was allegedly written, staged and produced by Falcon's parents.
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Comments
I think the kid was sneaking gulps of whatever hooch the dad was wasted on.
Did Balloon Boy's parents really let him cover himself in chocolate (I hope), sit in the toilet and pretend to be Mr. Hankey? Classy.
Obviously a stunt, why feed this guys attempt to exploit? I say DROP all stories and mentions of this hoax at once. If we are going to give this guy yet another 15 minutes of fame lets do it legitimately.. by calling him a fraud and a liar for all the world to see.
This poor child. Why are his parents putting him through all of this? He obviously can't take the stress of the constant interviews. These people rank right up there with Jon and Kate for their parenting "skills".
Like us all, we were worried that Falcon would come out fine from the high flying balloon. We wanted this story to have a happy ending.
Our wishes for the family was with hope and prayers.
Now lets look at the realities (no pun), a mom and dad that desire to be in front of the media cameras, a family stat chases storm then broad casts it, and young balloon boy goes by the name of Falcon.
In my opinion, this was a staged; a plot for media attention.
America we were fooled. Yep they did it for the show.
Lash
Daddy Dearest seems a little unhinged. Not sure if it's the rat face, the crazy eyes, or the sputter and spurt style of elocution. He's got a little Joe Jackson in him.
MENTAL ILLNESS. Sadly, these days, mental illness in a parent plus children in the spotlight = a ratings bonanza. Ugh.
I love the Mamas & the Papas.
MacKenzie - is that you again?! You are posting all over Movieline today...
The puke was probably coming from the solar plexus jab his old man gave him 30 seconds before the appearance just to "remind" him about what not to say again. (Great Santini style.)
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In light of the whole hoax and the parents' determination to keep the hoax under wraps, I would not be surprised if this child learned how to vomit on cue or practiced before the interview. Since, it was just after the "question" concerning "the show" that he vomited and disrupted the flow of conversation. This sounds really sinister, but nothing that these parents would do would surprise me. They are really out there - for themselves - period. And, those kids just go along for the ride - like a side show for the circus.
The kids are all obviously abused and scared. Dad looks so busted after the kid in fact busted him and good ole Wolf proves himself to be one dense dim bulb.
You should really wear a one piece because they are really easy to move around in, and two piece swim suits are really annoying and they sometimes come off.