Reporter Smashes Ice Sculpture At OC Fair

Found via Vulture comes this suspicious video from the OC Fair of a bumbling reporter effectively smashing eight hours of ice sculptor Roland Hernandez's life, leaving them to melt on the turkey-bone littered fairplex asphalt. Vulture astutely points out "The speed at which [the reporter] puts the mike back into the man's face, however, suggests premeditation". Do you think the video is real or a hoax?

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(i can't help but be reminded of another masterpiece lost in similarly tragic circumstances.)

Comments

[Mag7]

07:19 PM on 08/04/2010

An ice sculpture in Orange County? It would be gone by the time we're reading this anyway, so the sculpture owes the reporter big time for the infamy.

[HoltzReport]

01:55 PM on 08/04/2010

It was a clumsy attempt at comedy staged by the station and the ice sculptor.
http://ocunwired.ocregister.com/2010/08/02/fail-dont-touch-the-oc-fair-ice-sculpture

[jpbreeze]

01:01 PM on 08/04/2010

Not fake, he genuinely made a mistake by leaning the piece. My question is; it took 8 hours for the artist to get that far?

[Eric in Ayden]

12:39 PM on 08/04/2010

Not only fake but poorly faked.

[Paavo Ojala]

12:27 PM on 08/04/2010

Here's link to unedited video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AInE_H6Uj0U&feature=related

[history repeats]

12:25 PM on 08/04/2010

it was faked. he wouldnt be saying "what if i broke your camera equipment" that fast. he would have been concentrating more on the fact that his sculpture broke. plus i think the reporter wouldnt have been that laid back about it.

[jws2346]

11:40 AM on 08/04/2010

Man..., whether that was fake (I hope) or real, it was COLD hearted.

[LeftofTerry]

10:32 AM on 08/04/2010

faaaaake.

[SmartladyDem]

08:42 AM on 08/04/2010

This is so fake. The acting is horrible-they both seem to hesitate to react-a sure sign of fake staging-they both keep looking at the camera self-consciously.
Besides, I've done ice sculpture-a two year old wouldn't take eight hours to create that piece.
It could be done with a chain saw in minutes-and by hand in an hour.
This was just plain bad staging, anything for youtube, right? Garbage.

[loudneighbor]

08:38 AM on 08/04/2010

Anyone who thinks this is anything but a setup is a dupe.

[TheBostonMike]

08:33 AM on 08/04/2010

That's the problem with his generation. Didn't your Mama ever teach you "Look but don't Touch!" It is kind of odd that the piece was pretty much a round ball head on the most basic body and a rough outline of some wings and I have seen some incredibly detailed work on Ice sculptures. This didn't seem TOO detailed. And.. The artists hand was on the wing when it started to fall over and he moved his hand away rather than trying to hold it up. Odd. Then the "mortified" reporter's microphone went right to the "angered" artists face for his sound. Great reporting, and..the "honest" reaction one would expect??? Hmmmm... I hate to be a conspiracy theorist, but.. regardless... Is the news making the news now? (rhetorical)

[Aldo Rodriguez]

08:22 AM on 08/04/2010

Oh man, that poor guy must be "crushed"!

(OK, I'm sorry, I know it's too early. I'll go get my coffee)

[swp]

07:34 AM on 08/04/2010

Fox strikes again!

[beninabox1]

07:05 AM on 08/04/2010

Nothing false about this. Sculputure was top-heavy. The use of the passive voice "accidents happen" is something politicians do all the time, as a way of evading responsibility. Well, the smiles were false, but that's TV - put on the happy face and protect the home team. I wonder how they were going to 'make it right'.

[beninabox1]

07:22 AM on 08/04/2010

Though I do have to wonder what a partially finished ice sculpture is doing outside on a hot day.

[emrogers]

07:57 AM on 08/04/2010

I thought the same thing. It's not just the ambient heat but more so the direct sunlight. My guess is if this was real he would have been working under a shade tent. I think it's bogus.

[Goliadkin]

05:09 AM on 08/04/2010

Mental pablum for TV-enthralled drones.