Joey Skaggs

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Joey Skaggs
Born1945 (age 78–79)
United States
EducationHigh School of Art and Design
School of Visual Arts (BFA)
Occupation(s)Artist, prankster, writer

Joey Skaggs (born 1945) is an American prankster who has organized numerous successful media pranks, hoaxes, and other presentations. Skaggs is one of the originators of the phenomenon known as culture jamming. Skaggs has used Kim Yung Soo,[1][2][3] Joe Bones,[4] Joseph Bonuso,[5][6] Giuseppe Scaggioli, Dr. Joseph Gregor, and the Rev. Anthony Joseph as aliases.[7]

Artistic career[edit]

According to his web site, Skaggs does not care for "vicious" pranks such as letters containing fake anthrax; he also states that he is not doing anything illegal. He uses volunteer actors to play his customers, refusing to really scam anyone except the media. Often the prank is launched with nothing more than a press release with a phone number; in these press releases, Skaggs leaves hints or details that easily could be checked for accuracy. Eventually, he reveals the hoax to make his point.

On some occasions, Skaggs has sent a substitute to interviews with programs such as Entertainment Tonight and To Tell the Truth. Producers did not notice.[7] Also, photographs in the National Enquirer and Playback have depicted the wrong man.

In a 2015 interview, Skaggs revealed that he has a hoax that is "out there" that no one has discovered yet.[8] After the interview, Chinese news agency SinoVision promptly fell for his then 30-year-old annual New York City April Fools' Day parade hoax and ran a four-minute segment in English on the non-event.[9]

In 2017, "Art of the Prank", Andrea Marini's award-winning feature documentary about artist Joey Skaggs, was released internationally on television and streaming platforms.[10]

In 2020, production began on a series of short oral history documentaries featuring Skaggs and materials from his archive titled, “Joey Skaggs Satire and Art Activism, 1960s to the Present and Beyond”. [11]

Select pranks[edit]

  • Dog Meat Soup (1994): Skaggs portrayed Kim Yung Soo, an entrepreneur who wanted to purchase unwanted dogs for human consumption. His purpose was to bring to light issues of cultural bias, intolerance and racism, as well as to demonstrate the media's tendency to be reactionary, gullible and irresponsible.[12]
  • The Solomon Project (1995): Joseph Bonuso (Skaggs) claimed to have created a computer program that would work as both judge and jury and announce sentences. It pronounced O. J. Simpson guilty.[13]
  • The Final Curtain (2000): Skaggs' creation was a combined funeral company, virtual graveyard and theme park. It was meant to satirize showmanship in places like Forest Lawn cemeteries. Some investors were actually interested. Final Curtain's website is still functioning.
  • Bigfoot & The Tiny Top Circus (2014): Bigfoot, the world's most illusive and terrifying creature, was captured and put on display by the Tiny Top Circus in New York City's Washington Square Park. The creature (Joey Skaggs dressed literally as a big foot) made a daring escape and disappeared into the West Fourth Street subway station.[14]
  • Trump's Golden Throne (2017): For New York City's 32nd annual April Fools' Day Parade, after 31 years promoting a parade that didn't exist, Joey Skaggs orchestrated a real one. He held a Trumpathon, the world's largest gathering of Trump look-alikes, and together they paraded a golden outhouse, featuring President Donald Trump tweeting on his phone as he sat on his throne, to Trump Tower on 5th Avenue.[15]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Yang, Jeff. "ASIAN POP Putting On The Dog." San Francisco Chronicle. Thursday October 13, 2005.
  2. ^ Kennedy, Mike. "Relax, Rover: 'Dogs for food' was just a hoax Exposing racism and bias was the aim says a New York artist." Kansas City Star. May 28, 1994. C3.
  3. ^ Sinisi, J. Sebastian. "Fido-as-food letter offends Offer to buy dogs is apparent hoax." Denver Post. May 21, 1994. B-1.
  4. ^ Starita, Joe. "FAT SQUAD HOAX HOOKED THE MEDIA." San Jose Mercury News. May 17, 1986. 1C.
  5. ^ Poniewozik, James. "Justice in the Blood." TIME. Monday November 13, 2000.
  6. ^ Landler, Mark. "MEDIA: PRESS;Joey Skaggs, who delights in practical jokes on the press, has got a million of them." The New York Times. January 29, 1996. 1.
  7. ^ a b "Korean Dog Soup," Snopes
  8. ^ Jauregui, Andres (April 1, 2015). "Chinese News Agency SinoVision Falls For Joey Skaggs' 30-Year-Old April Fools' Day Prank". The Huffington Post. New York City: TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc. Archived from the original on April 1, 2015. Retrieved April 1, 2015. 'I have perpetrated a hoax, and its out there in the world, and no one knows it's me,' Skaggs said. 'Lots of people witnessed it, but no one has put it together.'
  9. ^ Clements, Christie (March 31, 2015). April Fool's Day. YouTube: SinoVision English Channel Archives. Archived from the original on April 1, 2015. Retrieved April 1, 2015. wow. I almost feel bad for her. Almost.
  10. ^ Razi Syed, The Art of the Prank Unmasks Joey Skaggs, Father of Fake News, in BedfordandBowery.com, Sept.28, 2017
  11. ^ Justin Almodovar, Joey Skaggs: Fish Condos screens at the Spring 2022 New Jersey Film Festival on February 11, in newjerseystage.com, Feb.10, 2022
  12. ^ John Tierney, The Big wasCity: Falling For It, in The New York Times Magazine, July 17, 1994, p.16
  13. ^ St. John Warren, The talk of the town – Jury tampering, in The New Yorker, Feb.5, 1996, pp.24–5
  14. ^ Lee Speigel, Bigfoot Unveiling Turns Into Huge Toe Job, in Huffington Post, June 7, 2014
  15. ^ Lincoln Anderson, Scoopy's Notebook, Week of April 6, in The Villager, April 6, 2017

External links[edit]

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