National - by Jessica Roy on Thursday, October 15, 2009 14:21 - 30 Comments - 13,480 views
CNN is currently flipping a shit over a kid in a balloon soaring high over beautiful Colorado. Apparently his parents think they are in the District 9 sequel and were building a “homemade flying saucer” until their six year old son climbed in and flew away in it. No seriously. There is currently a kid who is acting out a real life remake of Up in the Colorado sky. You cannot make this stuff up. Watch a livestream of the coverage here.
Absurdity and humor aside, hopefully they can figure out a way to wrangle the aircraft safely back down to earth without hurting the little guy. I blame Disney for teaching us that kids can fly (if only their imaginations allow it!).
Updates after the jump.
UPDATE: This Mediaite article makes an interesting point. Should the balloon crash, will the networks show it? I’m hoping no, but knowing cable news these days, the answer is probably yes.
And now they’re reporting he may have fallen out. Ugh.
UPDATE (3:42 pm): The balloon landed and Fox News is reporting that no one was inside. Either the boy was never in the balloon or he fell out somewhere along the way.
And as if this story couldn’t get any stranger, it is now being reported that the boy’s family was on Wife Swap twice.
UPDATE (4:11pm): Gawker is reporting that “Local police say that they now think that he did not fall out of the balloon, and that he never got into it, that he is on the ground near his home. The basket has not been breached. They really have no clue where the boy is.”
UPDATE (6:09pm): According to Denver’s KUSA and NYTimes reporter Brian Stelter’s Twitter feed, the boy has been found alive.
UPDATE (6:14pm): Yeah. He was hiding in the attic the whole fucking time.
So basically CNN falls for a fake story, acts like it’s God for breaking it, then gets scooped by MSNBC when the kid is actually found. This is a bigger #CNNfail than #iranelection, but I’m obviously glad he’s alive. Plus now this can become a meme! It already kind of has.
As comedienne Sarah Benincasa said, “Balloon boy is SO GROUNDED.”
All I have to say is: what the fuck.
(Image via CNN)
30 Comments
Julianna M.
Is it terrible that I find this story hilarious?
Michelle Smith
Yes, it makes you a terrible person to find a story about a 6 year old who might have fallen from 7,000 feet funny.
Lisa Neri
Isn’t the father Richard Heene and his wife the couple of storm chasers from a old episode of “Wife Swap”?
Is it terrible that when I found out there was no child in it when it landed, my first thought was “Lame,” rather than “Oh, god, I hope he didn’t fall out.”?
I think we can all admit this has ended tragically (though not truly until we know what happened to him since he might still be ok), but the bizarreness of the story is probably what people are finding funny. If the circumstances weren’t so weird I doubt CNN would have been all over the story the way they were.
Katrina Kampmiller
I bet they just did it for attention. He’s probably in a closet somewhere. The morbid side of me says they killed him and this is a distraction, but I bet it’s Munchhausen By Proxy or something like that.
Lisa Neri
As terrible as it is to think he may have fallen out, after seeing them on “Wife Swap” I wondered if this was a horrible attempt at a publicity stunt. God I hope not!
Alice Partridge
You can’t blame Disney. That’s ridiculous!! So the parents are completely without blame? Hello? How stupid is that to make the dumb thing in the first place. roflmao! Hope he lands okay.
@Alice Of course it’s his parents’ fault. Your sarcasm meter must be broken.
Julianna M. – Yes and no.
Mike Kingsbury
My guess is that th balloon isn’t big enough to carry a 6 year old boy for one thing, it takes a lot of helium to lift one pound, and second how did he get inside a sealed up helium balloon?
While helium isn’t unbreathable it won’t work without a high oxygen content which would reduce lift as well.
I don’t think he could have been inside, I think this is all a hoax.
Jen Gomez
Well if it is the same family from wife swap…this does not suprise me the father was an idiot!
Elaine Nieto
First of all it is spelled ..surprise..and yes I do agree he was an idiot!
Mark Harrison
I cant believe there wasn’t an advertisement onthat thing, what a wasted opportunity:)
Danny Brooke
Found on CNN’s site:
Falcon’s parents, science enthusiasts Richard and Mayumi Heene, were featured on the 100th episode of ABC’s prime-time program “Wife Swap” in March, ABC said.
So, Yes… It is them
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Haywood Jablome
I just saw a report they found him
Erick Alvarez
So stupid…. maybe it was a scheme
Holden Magroin
Heather Marulli
He was hiding in an attic!
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/10/15/colorado.boy.balloon/index.html
@Katrina good call! They found him in a box in the attic! Alive!
Haha great update, balloon boy definitely is going to be a meme and a legend! Glad he’s safe. #coloradofail #policefail #parentsfail
I’m never watching CNN again.
I’m so so happy someone used the name “Haywood Jablome” in this comment thread.
Katrina Kampmiller
HA! I was right, well, not about the closet, but the attic is close enough!
Darlene M. Kane
WoW!! Thank god he is ok.
Luke StormoGipson
What pisses me off is that this got more media attention than the equality march in DC this past sunday. Where the fuck do our nation’s priorities stand (at least the media’s)?! lame
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