Creative Commons license with Doctor HydeTBD’s Ryan Kearney reports on the bizarre story of an Associated Press reporter who was fooled by ESPN producer Marc Sterne’s Christopher Walken impression and published a report Friday quoting Sterne — in character as Walken. Sterne does the impersonation regularly on D.C.-area station ESPN 980.
As part of his bit Friday morning, Sterne fabricated details about Natalie Wood’s drowning death in 1981 (at which Walken was present). An AP reporter thought it was real and published a report about it.
You can read the original AP story at TBD.
When the AP realized the flub, they sent out a “kill” notification to scrap the story. “The station now says that it was a hoax involving a station employee who was impersonating Walken,” the notice said.
Sterne told Kearny that he “didn’t mean any offense by it, and I’m very sorry if anyone was offended. I’m also very embarrassed for AP, that they thought it was the real thing.”
ESPN 980 is owned by Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder.
