B-Roll Follies Come to ABC News

B-Roll Follies Come to ABC News

Hard on the heels of Fox News mistakenly deploying an image of John Conyers as a means of identifying William Jefferson, ABC News has had to apologize for a stock footage slip up of their own, in which DC Judge Roy Pearson--who's made news because of a deeply weird lawsuit in which he's attempting to win $54 million from a Laundromat that ruined his pants--was identified with video footage of former DC Mayor and current Ward 8 Councilman Marion Barry during a story tease.

We know. This incident is not making the promulgation of Eat The Press' Charlie Gibson Great Man Theory any easier. But, speaking as one who was born in Washington, DC and who currently resides in the DC-Metro area, the juxtaposition of Barry's image with this million-dollar pants case isn't entirely without context.

See, when it comes to getting crazy in the 202, it is the personage of Marion Barry against which all competing aspirants are judged. Say what you want about Judge Roy Pearson--people may hold his lawsuit in low regard or consider his weepy histrionics on the stand an embarrassment--but he will never be considered the reason why voting representation is denied to the residents of Washington, DC. In years past, the fashionable soundbyte of those who oppose DC statehood was these three words: "Senator Marion Barry." Barry's legacy looms large over Washington, so, it stands to reason that he'd loom similarly on B-Roll. In fact, were it not for the recent Conyers-Jefferson flap, one would be inclined to chalk it up as viral or simply free-associative.

In other Roy Pearson news, DCist yesterday collected the best-written headlines on this story, and the clear winner comes from the National Association of Manufacturers' Shop Floor.org: "Pantalunacy: Judge Pearson and the Drycleaners." Pantalunacy? Well played. To all you editors who think you can top that one: Game on!

RELATED:ABC Apologizes For Barry Video Mistake [TV Newser]

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