Morten Downey Jr all over again?
Morale in the office was already at a low point in 1989 when Downey flew to California for a speaking engagement. The next day, a disturbing rumor began to circulate in the office: Downey was in the hospital. He had been badly beaten by a pack of skinheads, who had abducted him at the San Francisco airport. They had carved ''KKK'' onto his forehead and smeared him with blood. He was unconscious. A national hunt was on.
None of his producers believed the story for a second.
Sure enough, a variation on the rumor soon surfaced: Downey was fine. They hadn't beaten him, they'd only cut his hair (skinhead hairdressers?) -- and it wasn't blood on his face, it was red Magic Marker. We all began to get a sinking feeling. That evening, the production staff huddled around the television as Peter Jennings announced with barely concealed disdain that the San Francisco police were skeptical of Downey's story.
It seemed nobody in the airport had seen even one skinhead, much less a gang of them. Worse, the letters ''KKK'' on Downey's forehead were written backward, suggesting that Downey had written them himself while looking in the mirror. The mood in the studio was grim. We were used to the contempt of the mainstream media, but this was humiliation on a whole new level.
When Downey came into the office the next day, large chunks of hair were missing from the top of his forehead, as if he'd started to give himself a Mohawk and then thought better of it.
''Nice haircut,'' some brave soul (not me) said.
''Thanks, pal,'' Downey grinned, sucking on one of the cigarettes that would eventually kill him. I saw a new emotion in his eyes that day: fear. He seemed to realize this one might not fly. Sure enough, the blow proved fatal. When it was revealed that he was a liar, and not even a very good one, his fans turned on him for good. A few months later, the show was canceled.
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