Dateline: May 17, 1996 - 9PM - NYC.
Elephant Boy Banned As Scam Backfires!
The Set Up:
For those of you who missed the hi-jinx on Thursday (5/16), let me
explain. Fred the Elephant Boy came into the studio with a woman named
Lori, who is known on Prodigy Chat as Philly Babe, and claimed that they
were having an affair and had just come from Fred's house and a night of
passion. The phone lines at K-Rock started going crazy with calls from
Prodigy chatters who were claiming that it was all a hoax and that Fred
was in on it. When confronted as to whether or not the affair was real,
Fred swore that it was legitimate and the show continued.
Not knowing that it indeed was a scam, Captain Janks called and tried
to convince Fred that he was being used to get on the show. To prove his
point, Janks asked the two to tongue kiss, they wouldn't. Little did everyone
know that this was the beginning of the end.
Lori's husband Bryan then got on the phone and began to argue with
Fred much like a pro wrestler who was "gonna get you" would and
then moved on to his now-apologetic wife. The whole thing was becoming
increasingly harder to believe, especially after Lori sang her love song
which was supposed to be about Fred, even though he's never mentioned by
name in it.
As the calls continued to come into the back office, Gary checked out
a tip that Bryan was at a local hotel and then made an emergency break-through
on the room's phone, which came over the air, to further prove it was all
a hoax.
By now, Fred was cracking and finally fessed up that it was all a "practical
Joke". Howard and Robin were not amused and said they knew all along
it was a scam but that they wanted to see how far Fred would take it. On
the follwoing day's broadcast, Howard reiterated that Fred was banned from
the show.
For Fred's reaction and a whole lot more, check out...
©1996 The K.O.A.M. Newsletter. All Rights Reserved.
