Balloon Boy Hoax May Involve Media Outlet

The balloon boy hoax may have involved cooperation from a media outlet (please be MSNBC, please be MSNBC). Authorities haven’t named names but they do claim to have documents implicating at least one media outlet.

To recap, last Thursday six-year-old Falcon Henne caused a nation to be glued to basic cable news networks as a silver balloon, reportedly with him inside, floated across the Colorado sky.

News outlets, ignoring the laws of physics, believed the poor little boy had accidently climbed into the balloon and that the balloon somehow became untethered and floated away. Falcon was not inside the balloon. Instead he was safe and sound at home hiding in a box (now even that fact is in dispute).

In the media firestorm that followed, Falcon, on more than one occasion, mentioned that his family staged the incident for “a show.”

That “show” is a reality show that the boy’s parents, Richard and Mayumi Henne, had been pitching to anyone that would listen (the family had previously appeared on the ABC reality show Wife Swap). Then a Denver man stepped forward claiming that Richard Henne told him he was planning a media stunt to promote said reality show.

So it should come as no surprise that authorities now believe the entire incident was a hoax and are looking to press felony charges against Richard and Mayumi.

Furthermore, Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden and his investigators are looking at the possibilities “that even some of the media outlets may have had some knowledge about this.”

According to Alderden there are documents proving that a media outlet agreed to pay to the Heene’s with regards to the balloon boy saga. It’s not certain whether the deal was made before or after the alleged hoax.

The Henne’s becoming felons, with the media’s help, is far better than any other alternate ending to this tale (minus of course the little boy actually being in the balloon and getting killed).

Instead of Falcon soaring from one dopey talk show to the next as the cute little “balloon boy,” we get to see his disgraced mom and dad paraded around in cuffs from one court hearing to the next.

Interestingly enough, this outcome will not only land them in jail but will land them a reality a show as well. Does anyone doubt that the morally-bankrupted wasteland of television will pass on these insidious and disgusting villains? Of course not, they are now more viable candidates for a reality show (minus whatever jail sentence they receive) than ever before.

Knowing that they will stoop so low as to stage a hoax involving their youngest son being in mortal danger makes them far more fascinating than a family that accidently had one of their kids take off in a floating jiffy pop container. Train wrecks garner ratings.

They are awful human beings who will do anything for attention and that’s the mandatory recipe for reality television stars.

If found guilty of the felony charges, which are likely to be conspiracy, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, making a false report to authorities and attempting to influence a public servant, the Henne’s could face six years in prison and a $500,000 fine.