Skaggs Solomon Project Prank on the OJ Simpson Trial
With OJ Simpson again back in the news (Newsweek has obtained a chapter from "I Did It"), it is a good time to
look back at Joey Skagg's The Solomon Project. In 1995, Skaggs, posing as Dr. Joseph Bonuso, Ph.D., sent out
press releases about a computer system that could replace juries. The system had found OJ guilty.
This was too big a "hook" for the media to ignore and it was covered in the San Francisco Chronicle (link to a PDF), the Orange County Register, and other publications. When they caught CNN, they set up a fake office at Voyager in New York. Frederick Marx, who was working on a documentary on Skaggs, filmed that day. It was chronicled in the New Yorker Talk of the Town piece, Jury Tampering. He has put a nearly 9 minute demo he made for the project on YouTube (click on the image of Skaggs above to watch it) which includes a brief history of the work of Skaggs and what happened when CNN's crew showed up and produced a story (PDF).
Marx also has work from several other projects (which you can support) up on YouTube. Marx made Hoop Dreams with Steve James and Peter Gilbert which is available on DVD from Criterion (which was a sister company to Voyager).
look back at Joey Skagg's The Solomon Project. In 1995, Skaggs, posing as Dr. Joseph Bonuso, Ph.D., sent out
press releases about a computer system that could replace juries. The system had found OJ guilty.
This was too big a "hook" for the media to ignore and it was covered in the San Francisco Chronicle (link to a PDF), the Orange County Register, and other publications. When they caught CNN, they set up a fake office at Voyager in New York. Frederick Marx, who was working on a documentary on Skaggs, filmed that day. It was chronicled in the New Yorker Talk of the Town piece, Jury Tampering. He has put a nearly 9 minute demo he made for the project on YouTube (click on the image of Skaggs above to watch it) which includes a brief history of the work of Skaggs and what happened when CNN's crew showed up and produced a story (PDF).
Marx also has work from several other projects (which you can support) up on YouTube. Marx made Hoop Dreams with Steve James and Peter Gilbert which is available on DVD from Criterion (which was a sister company to Voyager).
