The silver balloon with a tuna can-shaped basket below briefly halted departures at Denver International Airport, mobilized a fleet of emergency vehicles and was responsible for military helicopters in the air. For several hours many people feared that Falcon Heene, age 6, may have fell out of the basket and was gravely injured or dead. To read more about this story click here.
Today his father Richard Heene angrily denied suggestions that the episode was a publicity stunt deliberately engineered by the family, who have appeared on reality show Wife Swap on two occasions.
Police have confirmed they are set to re-interview the family after Falcon himself appeared to disclose a little bit too much info on television.
Asked by news anchor Wolf Blitzer, who was standing in for Larry King, if he had heard his frantic family calling his name, and if he had why he hadn’t come out of his hiding place. Falcon replied: “We did it for the show.”
What do you think of Falcon’s admission that all this fracas was simply PR for the family’s show? Do you believe Falcon Heene’s parent’s that their son was hiding because he was scared and that he does this all the time?
Loading ...
Comments
13 Responses to Is Balloon Boy Drama Full Of Hot Air?
I feel sorry for the young man who was so scared on national t.v. that he had to vomit twice. He was way too young to understand the implications of actually telling the truth than trying to remember the lie his father and mother probably coached him to say. IMO there probably are going to be some hefty fines coming that family’s way.
I actually saw this family on the two “Wife Swaps” they were featured on. Although it’s been several months, I remember I was not impressed by Richard Heene. I recall him being a selfish bully who put his interests above everyone’s else’s. Of course, “Wife Swap” (like J&K) is a reality show – I know they have a “storyline” that they work with so I can believe they “amped up” the dad’s personality to make a good show.
There are a lot of questions here, but I feel the truth will end up coming out anyway, so I am going to hold my tongue for now and not rush to judgment.
Falcon is such a cute kid. I truly hope his parent’s have his best interests at heart.
Anya,
I saw this family on Wife Swap both times also and thought this dad was a total jerk. The minute I saw this family yesterday I told my husband that I thought it was a publicity stunt.
It’s obvious why the story was fascinating: It was the ultimate Roald Dahl fantasy, but with the potential to go horribly awry.
After the kid was discovered to have been home the entire time, that should have ended the coverage–or should it have? Unfortunately, the idea that there might be “one more twist” in the story is probably what made news outlets stay on top of it. First, no one wants to get “scooped,” no matter how slim the chance–which is probably a sad commentary on the media. Second, the fact that the kid never left the ground, or his house, gave rise to a lot of questions: Why didn’t the parents find him sooner? Why did the older brother allegedly say he saw the kid get in and go up?
Most of all, with the discovery–I believe while the darn balloon was still airborne–of the family’s prior reality show appearances, there was the possibility that all this was a hoax, or at least a ploy to get back in the media spotlight. And that, I believe, is a relevant news story for our times.
I was watching Oprah when the local station ran a crawl about this and said we could go to their website to watch it. My first thought was, they are telling us to watch what could well be a six year old fallling to his death. My second thought was, whatever happens, someone from the family will be on the Today show in the morning. And they were.
I wondered if maybe it was something the older brothers thought up, since they were the ones who said he was in the balloon. I couldn’t figure out where he was supposed to be. That thing on the bottom doesn’t look like it has an opening.
I saw one of the wife swap shows that they were one. I agree w/the others assessments that the father was a jerk. I think they really thought the little boy was in there. But, I’ve been wrong lots of times before.
“We did it for the show.”
What else could that possibly mean except that it was a hoax planned to get them on a show?
I also saw the family on “Wife Swap” (both times), and thought the father was a huge jerk (the mother was no prize, either). Actually, seeing a clip from one of the episodes on “The Soup” tonight reminded me that the father almost seemed to have a screw loose. He was a creep, though. I wouldn’t put it past him to come up with this as a stunt.
Criminal charges are apparently coming.
I can’t say that I am surprised.
Pam, I’m not surprised either. Although the criminal charges against the Heenes will likely be nothing more than a misdemeanor, I do hope they are made to pay back Weld County, among others, for the cost of the rescue efforts to find their son. (Ironically, this area is my old stomping ground. I did my internship at Weld County Courthouse and worked in Fort Collins, CO.)
I, too, saw the original Wife Swap with this family. Ironically, it was aired in re-run on Lifetime the day before the balloon incident (Wife Swap airs during my “lunch hour” when I’m working at home), so the Heene parents’ odd behavior was fresh in my mind.
While I’m glad the authorities were quick to follow their first instincts, which was to save a little boy in peril, I do think they were swept up in the drama of the situation. CNN had a balloon specialist from Albuquerque interviewed who, based on the 100 lb payload of the balloon, was immediately doubtful the balloon could have lifted off with a box and boy in tow (remember, the payload included the weight of the balloon itself), let alone get up to 7,500 feet.
My sister and brother-in-law live in Albuquerque and are avid hot air balloonists, own thier own balloon, and their first reaction was like, “Look in the neighbor’s yard for the boy, because that’s about as far as that balloon would have dragged the kid, knocked him off and then went airborne.”
It’s interesting that the boy was so distraught on being asked why he hid etc that he vomited. It seems it’s not so easy for him to lie. The stress of putting your child on tv and making him do things “for a show” – do we need someone to really get hurt before we leave the kids out of this.
I am waiting for one of these reality shows about worst disasters to have some parent put their child on an ATV or do some stupid stunt to get attention. There appears to be no end to the greed and stupidity of people and willingness to risk their children’s mental and physical health to get attention.
They stopped flights at the AIRPORT for this. This I’m sure costs thousands. They should face fines. I did not like the way the father controlled the children’s interview answers. I think they are lying and can’t believe they did not anticipate beign caught and that the police would file charges once they figured it out.
Another one I fell for. Stupid people. I can’t believe they put their children through this. Stupid stupid people. I am always shocked at how brazen some people are, sitting their w/the family on national news denying their stupidity. Ugh.
Interesting that Cella saw the Heenes on Wife Swap the day before the balloon saga. Perhaps the Heenes deliberately launched their hoax immediately after they’d appeared in the rerun, to maximize their publicity.