On September 16th Rannazzisi tweeted, “After I moved with my wife to Los Angeles from New York City in 2001 shortly after 9/11, I told people that I was in one of the World Trade Center on 9/11. It wasn’t true. I was in Manhattan but working in a building in midtown and I was not at the Trade Center on that day.” He goes on to explain how sorry he is and that he had made a terrible mistake.
I think it was a good idea that Rannazzisi admitted the truth rather than continue to lie, but I wonder if there was a better way to admit it. I feel a public statement would have been better rather than post 8 different tweets.
As you can guess fans and friends were not very happy about this. Pete Davidson a cast member from “Saturday Night Live” replied “Its ok @StevenRannazzisi people make mistakes…. can’t wait to meet my dad for lunch.”. Davidson had lost his father on 9/11.
To add fuel to Rannazzisi’s flame his sponsorship with Buffalo Wild Wings seemed to be over. Buffalo Wild Wings wrote a statement that said, “We are disappointed to learn of Steve’s misrepresentations regarding the events of September 11, 2001. We are currently re-evaluating our relationship with Steve pending a review of all the facts.”
FX Network that airs Rannazzisi’s show “The League” says they are disappointed that he has lied but believe in his apology.
Rannazzi has also gotten backlash from other major sources such as nydailynews.com and Time magazine.
I think the best idea for Rannazzisi now is to stay quite and let things settle down, because the more statements he makes the more it sounds like lies.
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