"Aqua Teen" stunt gets bomb squads attention

By: Karl Schneider
Date: Thursday, February 01, 2007
Source: AP

A recent stunt to promote the show Aqua Teen Hunger Force created quite a stir as bridges and a section of the Charles River were shut down in Boston while the bomb squads investigated.

The reason for the scare came from nine blinking electronic devices planed at various bridges and other spots in the Boston area.

Turner Broadcasting, parent company of Cartoon Network, said the packages in question were magnetic lights that pose no danger and added that the devices have been in place for two to three weeks in 10 cities: Boston; New York; Los Angeles; Chicago; Atlanta; Seattle; Portland, Ore.; Austin, Texas; San Francisco; and Philadelphia.

"We regret that they were mistakenly thought to pose any danger," the company told the AP.

Peter Berdovsky, 27, of Arlington, and Sean Stevens, 28, of Charlestown, were each arrested on one felony charge of placing a hoax device and one charge of disorderly conduct.

KJ's Take: Good to know our country is so safe that one out of ten cities found a potential bomb within weeks of it's placement near a bridge! Hopefully the company pays the poor saps legal fees who were just following orders.

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Comments/Responses

miko34 • Feb 01, 2007, 03:39am •

I agree with you. Two to Three weeks these things have been set and we're hearing about it now. This should make us more worried about our Homeland Security.

Why aren't landmarks, bridges and other large buildings being checked on a DAILY basis? We need a hundred Jack Bauers. Two for each state.

ponyboy76 • Feb 01, 2007, 03:42am •

Personally, I think this is just stupid. I totally understand that they have to be eternally vigilent in the face of psycho terrorists, but to mistake a cartoon character giving the finger in lights for a bomb is just well, retarded. Somehow I don`t think Osama was sitting there one thinking of how he could eradicate a few thousand more people and thought hmm" maybe I`ll have a little character give people the finger. Not only will it be effective but funny too" Terrorists don`t strike as having much of a sense of humor. Now, it was probably dumb to put them in those locations but I think this is blowing it way out of proportion. They talk about how it promoted fear and caused problems but I`m pretty sure it was all the sirens and bombsquads carrying the stupid things away that caused alot of the fear.
For god sake`s its a show about talking fries, a shake and dude named"meatwad".

Sully1182 • Feb 01, 2007, 07:23am •

ok before anyone continues to bash the US for taking a sweet a$$ time in finding these things and only in boston out of 10 cities...I live in boston and you could clearly tell what they were for. All the locals by the bridges and stuff knew what they were and were not afraid. someone saw them freaked out cause they didnt know what the Aqua teen logo was and called the cops and of course they had to go balls to the wall to look good when trying to "figure" out what it was. So in the other 9 cities they obviously knew what it was but in good ol boston we have to go the distance when someone finally complains about them.... just alittle FYI before more people bash out country and alertness. Ok KJ!!! lol

irascible • Feb 01, 2007, 07:44am •

Silly silly silly. Yes - the terrorists are not only making bombs - they are making lightup cartoon characters that flip the bird before blowing up. COME ON! Paranoid and delusional. The only thing I would say that contradicts my previous statements: If you're going to put something up like that (which is somewhat different and original actually) you might want to inform someone so as not to create that panic. Who would want to bomb Boston anyway? Nobody hates the Red Sox that much.

ponyboy76 • Feb 01, 2007, 09:59am •

I do, but I guess not enough to bomb them!

dragon261 • Feb 01, 2007, 10:06am •

In a post 9/11 US this idea for a publicity stunt was equally retarded.

fft5305 • Feb 01, 2007, 10:23am •

Ok, regardless of how incredibly obvious these things may have been, who in the frick really thought it was a good idea to place an electronic device with blinking lights on it near a bridge as publicity for a movie? In today's atmosphere, as absurd as much of it is, that's just stupid.

bdd • Feb 01, 2007, 11:17am •

Living in MA I'm just sicken by how dumb the Boston Police, the Governor I voted for and the FBI are.

Should they have put these things up? No, it was illegal, but this is crazy. People have noticed them for weeks in boston and didn't report them because they knew they were nothing. Only in Boston can something that looks like a Lite-Up town can be thought of as a bomb.

And yes Miko, let's check EVERY bridge EVERY day! There are 63,000ish bridges in MA alone, let's check them all! Only 2% of things coming in from ports get checked because the USA doesn't have the manpower or time to check them. But yeah we haveto check EVERY bridge everyday.

Boston Police are dumbasses.

kaybar • Feb 01, 2007, 11:33am •

definitely poor judgement all around, but the fact that the authorities are seeking hard time for those responsible is absurd. There is a clear difference between a "hoax" and an advertising campagin, albeit an unorthodox one. I read on an msn stream that the boston police and governor are trying to get 2 to 5 years for each "hoax" put around the city. That is facking ridiculous! The white house praised boston for immediately getting them in the loop, that was their first problem.

Everyone should have acted a bit more responsible and handled this in a much quieter manner instead of blowing it out of proportion. Who advertises a bomb anyway? On the plus side i guess this is good publicity for the upcoming aqua teen movie, hah.

irascible • Feb 01, 2007, 12:04pm •

From the AP:
"It's clear the intent was to get attention by causing fear and unrest that there was a bomb in that location," Assistant Attorney General John Grossman said at their arraignment.

The 1-foot tall signs, which were lit up at night, resembled a circuit board, with protruding wires and batteries. Most depicted a boxy, cartoon character giving passersby the finger _ a more obvious sight when darkness fell.

The men did not speak or enter their own pleas, but they appeared amused and smiled as the prosecutor talked about the device found at Sullivan Station underneath Interstate 93, looking like it had C-4 explosive.

"The appearance of this device and its location are crucial," Grossman said. "This device looks like a bomb."

Some in the gallery snickered.

Outside the courthouse, Michael Rich, a lawyer for both of the men, said the description of a bomb-like device could be used for any electronic device.

"If somebody had left a VCR on the ground it would have been a device with wires, electronic components and a power source," he said.

There were people outside the courtroom with a sign that said "1.31.07. Never forget" LMAO. Holy overreaction batman!

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