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Blog Saturday, November 21, 2009 // Blog home »

Balloon Boy takes flight on iReport.com »

The Balloon Boy saga was pretty surreal. We saw everything from satire to serious commentary as iReporters tried to wrap their heads around the speculation that young Falcon Heene of Fort Collins, Colorado, had really gone up in a silver balloon. The story got even more interesting when authorities said father Richard Heene had created a hoax to attract media attention.

Our comedians had a field day with this one. HumorGazette of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, took a hit of helium on camera to lampoon the high-flying antics, and Artboy did a brilliant mash-up cartoon satirizing Barack Obama as a "Balloon Boy" hanging on to soaring political issues during his presidency. We also saw a Balloon Boy Halloween costume that crazyleg repurposed for a young "Balloon Girl."

LatriciaW made a video with her 13-year-old son pretending to vomit into a pot, just like Falcon did during live TV interviews. She wanted to make fun of the circus surrounding the notion of mischievous little boys in "Jiffy Pop spaceships." When I spoke to her, she said she had a serious point to make: "When he was getting sick on television most people would have said OK, stop this interview. People were too busy going on with the interview like the kid doesn't matter." She went on to say she thought people felt a little perturbed about being fooled.

And, bizarrely enough, Richard Heene was an iReporter who had already submitted a weather story. CNN's Abbi Tatton did a recent segment on how people had been concerned about the Heene children's safety last year when the storm piece came out.

This is just a tiny sampler platter of the commentary we received about the Balloon Boy story. What’s your take? Send us an iReport or comment here.

Posted by: nsaidi // October 21, 2009
Category: stories

4 Comments

October 21, 2009		WausauFamily Soon the "reality" of handcuffs will be the next part of the story.
October 21, 2009		tlc26 I'm not angry I was fooled. I'm angry that any parent would put their child through what Mr. Heene and his wife have. Was this event concievable? To a "non balloon expert", sure! I wasn't fooled, but a poor child surely was. This little boy was innocent to the cruel outside world he knew very little of. The ones who should have been protecting him from the cruel world were his parents & they in the end brought that cruel world to this little boy's doorstep. What sick parent does that to their kid? So no, I'm not angry I was fooled, I'm angry that I watched live a 6 year old be fooled at the very hands of his parents. To a 6 year old little boy, this was make believe; a great story to live out. The fun it must have been during that time in attic (If that was really where was) probably was something only a 6 year old can comprehend. To an adult though, watching this live, this wasn't make believe or a great reality show. This was a dangerous stunt & just screams mental cases! I would like to see the Heene's have to repay for the cost to find 'Lil Falcon. I would also like to see the Heene's be forced to undergo some serious counseling & parenting classes. These boys don't need to be in a foster home; they're about as safe as being with the Heene's themselves. Find family who can care for them, but allow little or no contact with the parents as an agreement for a family member to take them in. Require the parents to undergo serious medical evaluations & the custody be overseen by a judge as the children transition into the custody of both parents. This shouldn't be just done over the course of a few months, but rather a couple of years. There's something really wrong with these two parents that won't be fixed over night. They're screaming for attention? Why is that? Why did they feel the need to use their children to get that attention? There's deeper, darker issues here. Its inconcievable to me any rational, sane adult would put their child through such humiliation for a buck. To be honest, its sick really.
October 21, 2009		Rob101 Way to set an example for your kids. Nothing like having a fun friend instead of a Father! Who cares about right and wrong or how your actions effect others as long as you get paid! Good lesson.... (yes im being sarcastic)
October 26, 2009		JacobyL Well, what would be the fight? They will be losers! Great thing! It hasn't gotten universal praise, though author Maurice Sendak was quite taken with the Spike Jonze film. Some of the movie reviews for Where the Wild Things Are weren't glowing, saying it was muddy in parts, and didn't add up overall. Couples Retreat and Zombieland were the top box office draws, even though Couples Retreat was given a vicious hiding by critics. Still – children's films are usually some of the biggest moneymakers, so the producers of Where the Wild Things Are probably won't need installment loans to cover production costs.