Balloon boy charges are imminent - Twitter reacts with joy (mostly)
Oops. Richard Heene is probably regretting his decision to put his son, Falcon, on CNN the other night. Things don't look very good for the father of the Balloon Boy. Charges are a-comin'.
Speculation that Thursday's flying balloon scare was a hoax ramped up when Falcon told Wolf Blitzer that he didn't come out of the attic when called because "it was for the show."
Then everything unraveled for Mr. Heene. Blitzer, who was a complete marshmallow during the interview, weakly followed-up on Falcon's comments but quickly backpedaled when the elder Heene feigned expressed outrage that he question the validity of the event.
What Blitzer didn't do, the rest of the media did. Heene's appearance on the Today Show was a disaster and made the senior Heene look even worse by having his son appear on the show despite being visibly ill.
There was already talk, of course, that the whole balloon affair might have been a concocted media event before the Wolf Blitzer appearance because of Heene's history in and apparent love of the media -- including an appearance on the TV show "Wife Swap."
Now comes word that the father of the balloon boy is about to be charged. Colorado officials announced this evening that they will file criminal charges against Heene.
"We were looking at Class 3 misdemeanor, which hardly seems serious enough given the circumstances," Sheriff Alderden told reporters. "We are talking to the district attorney, federal officials to see if perhaps there aren't additional federal charges that are appropriate in this circumstance."
In the meantime, "Balloon Boy" is becoming a hot topic on Twitter again. Most Tweeters are having fun with the story either expressing joy that Heene is getting charged or coming up with their own unique angles on the affair.
Put Elektrckevin in the "expressing joy" category:
elektrckevin: Absolutely!!! This gets better everyday!!! Balloon boy daddy is getting busted!
Others are predicting a fad...
nancynaigle: I do bet ... that Halloween will be full of people in tinfoil .. being the balloon boy!
The Internet is really fast....
elnerito: LOL! I just scored 23 on Balloon Boy Game. Try and beat me: http://www.balloonboygame.com
Death by a thousand cuts?
reasongonemad: AP has **7** reporters on Balloon Boy coverage. We're digging good journalism's grave with this nonsense, friends.
Yeah, maybe you're right, but Gawker's got a really interesting piece by a guy who said he helped Heene create this hoax.
Start spreading the news....
Ieatmykidzsnack: I can't wait for Balloon Boy the musical.
More joy....
willfullyblind: Balloon boy's family must be related to Octomom. Criminals charges for exploiting kids & being burden for tax payers. Thank you
Deja Vu?
Joseph68: FAA definitely will press charges against balloon boy's family, same happened to Lawn Chair Larry.
Hmmm.... Lawn Chair Larry? He was one of the original Darwin Award nominees. Here's his story...
ReminisceSmith: Was I the only one who didn't care about the boy being on a balloon?
Yeah, probably.
And our favorite tweet so far comes from a man who has no problems with self-awareness.
bevanhouston: I'm seriously considering buying this commemorative Balloon Boy t-shirt. http://bit.ly/4jYK6w Incidentally, I'm an idiot.
We don't think you're an idiot, Bevan. But don'tcha think someone could make a better t-shirt? It's only been three days though....
Anyway, Colorado officials will be holding another press conference tomorrow on the issue at 11am (Mountain Time). As long as the football games won't be interrupted, we're fine with that.
In the meantime, we could embed a video from today's press conference, but we'd rather go with this music video from the 80s.
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Hey, we'll never file charges against you. But if we change our minds, we'll let you know on Twitter. So follow us!
