We older people in the UK seize first upon the ominous name “Kato Kaelin”. Someone of that name was a lodger in OJ Simpson’s Rockingham house when Simpson’s ex-wife, Nicole Brown, and her friend, Ron Goldman, were murdered on 12 Jun 1994 at Brown’s house in Brentwood, a couple of miles from Rockingham. Kato Kaelin gave evidence at the murder trial and sort-of implicated OJ and sort-of supported the alibi defence.
At the time of this strip (1996), the murder trial was over (Simpson was acquitted) and the civil suit brought by the parents of the victims was probably in progress; that trial found against Simpson and ordered him to pay more than $30,000,000 damages to the plaintiffs.
This reminds me of the scene in “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” when Betty Boop makes a cameo appearance in black and white. Everybody in the audience gasped.
On May 19, 1992, Amy Fisher had come to the Buttafuocos’ house and confronted Mary Jo Buttafuoco about Joey Buttafuoco, with whom she had been having a sexual relationship since July 1991 after Fisher brought her vehicle to Buttafuoco’s auto body shop in Baldwin, Nassau County, New York.1When Mary Jo answered the door, Fisher—posing as her own (fictitious) sister Ann Marie—offered, as proof of the affair, a T-shirt that Joey had given her with the logo of his auto body shop on it. The front porch confrontation escalated, and when Mary Jo demanded that Fisher leave and turned to go into the house and call Joey, Fisher shot her in the face with a .25 caliber semiautomatic pistol. Once Mary Jo regained consciousness, she identified Fisher as her assailant.1The investigation of the shooting and the subsequent court cases involved a series of conflicting claims and received significant news coverage in both mainstream news outlets and tabloids.4Buttafuoco’s lawyer maintained that Buttafuoco was never involved with Fisher and Fisher had invented the affair, while Fisher’s lawyer portrayed Fisher as a victim whom Buttafuoco manipulated into the shooting.5After Fisher’s assault conviction, Buttafuoco was indicted on 19 counts of statutory rape, sodomy, and endangering the welfare of a child. He initially pleaded not guilty.6 He later changed his plea to guilty, admitting he had sex with Fisher when she was 16 and that he had known her age at the time.7 He was sentenced to six months’ jail time and was released after serving four months and nine days of the sentence.8After his release from prison, Joey and Mary Jo Buttafuoco moved to California, where Mary Jo filed divorce papers in Ventura County Superior Court on February 3, 2003.9
The significant coverage of the shooting incident made Buttafuoco a minor celebrity. During Fisher’s trial, Buttafuoco appeared frequently on mainstream and tabloid news programs and talk shows and gave multiple interviews to all forms of media.5 David Letterman, in his last year of hosting Late Night with David Letterman, discussed the incident so often that Buttafuoco’s name was a recurring punchline,14 while Saturday Night Live parodied the case in multiple sketches.15
BE THIS GUY about 3 years ago
Do we have to explain to the young people who Joey Buttafuoco was/is?
Renatus Profuturus Frigeridus Premium Member about 3 years ago
I’ll Google all these guys.
Caldonia about 3 years ago
Four of the Gilligan stars were dead at the time. Now only Tina Louise remains. Yikes.
nosirrom about 3 years ago
Is Amy coming?
Lawrence.S about 3 years ago
You’re too old for him, Kim.
BrianMorris about 3 years ago
We older people in the UK seize first upon the ominous name “Kato Kaelin”. Someone of that name was a lodger in OJ Simpson’s Rockingham house when Simpson’s ex-wife, Nicole Brown, and her friend, Ron Goldman, were murdered on 12 Jun 1994 at Brown’s house in Brentwood, a couple of miles from Rockingham. Kato Kaelin gave evidence at the murder trial and sort-of implicated OJ and sort-of supported the alibi defence.
BrianMorris about 3 years ago
At the time of this strip (1996), the murder trial was over (Simpson was acquitted) and the civil suit brought by the parents of the victims was probably in progress; that trial found against Simpson and ordered him to pay more than $30,000,000 damages to the plaintiffs.
salunga about 3 years ago
I miss Charro.
vaughnrl2003 Premium Member about 3 years ago
There’s a name I could have done without ever hearing again.
Nyckname about 3 years ago
Looks like Mike has his nose out of joint.
mourdac Premium Member about 3 years ago
What a who’s who of mediocre celebrities!
timinwsac Premium Member about 3 years ago
Well this sure dates this strip!!
carlzr about 3 years ago
This reminds me of the scene in “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” when Betty Boop makes a cameo appearance in black and white. Everybody in the audience gasped.
ImDaRealAni about 3 years ago
Might be a bit young for this strip…
wogears about 3 years ago
Charo was a lot better than the rest of these B-listers. Find a video of her and listen to the audio track. She was a phenomenal guitarist.
Troglodyte about 3 years ago
Celebrity culture…bah!
PaulKmecak about 3 years ago
Gawd, I flashed on the “Entertainment Tonight” theme song after reading the names of all those D-List celebrities.
Bocephus about 3 years ago
Do we need to explain Kato Kaelin or why he’s “almost” a celebrity?
bakana about 3 years ago
A Gilligan Star.
No one is quite sure Who was in it, but the Faces are still familiar.
alexius23 about 3 years ago
The World turns & people who were almost famous fade away…
opus22 Premium Member about 3 years ago
Yes please.
opus22 Premium Member about 3 years ago
On May 19, 1992, Amy Fisher had come to the Buttafuocos’ house and confronted Mary Jo Buttafuoco about Joey Buttafuoco, with whom she had been having a sexual relationship since July 1991 after Fisher brought her vehicle to Buttafuoco’s auto body shop in Baldwin, Nassau County, New York.1When Mary Jo answered the door, Fisher—posing as her own (fictitious) sister Ann Marie—offered, as proof of the affair, a T-shirt that Joey had given her with the logo of his auto body shop on it. The front porch confrontation escalated, and when Mary Jo demanded that Fisher leave and turned to go into the house and call Joey, Fisher shot her in the face with a .25 caliber semiautomatic pistol. Once Mary Jo regained consciousness, she identified Fisher as her assailant.1The investigation of the shooting and the subsequent court cases involved a series of conflicting claims and received significant news coverage in both mainstream news outlets and tabloids.4Buttafuoco’s lawyer maintained that Buttafuoco was never involved with Fisher and Fisher had invented the affair, while Fisher’s lawyer portrayed Fisher as a victim whom Buttafuoco manipulated into the shooting.5After Fisher’s assault conviction, Buttafuoco was indicted on 19 counts of statutory rape, sodomy, and endangering the welfare of a child. He initially pleaded not guilty.6 He later changed his plea to guilty, admitting he had sex with Fisher when she was 16 and that he had known her age at the time.7 He was sentenced to six months’ jail time and was released after serving four months and nine days of the sentence.8After his release from prison, Joey and Mary Jo Buttafuoco moved to California, where Mary Jo filed divorce papers in Ventura County Superior Court on February 3, 2003.9
opus22 Premium Member about 3 years ago
The significant coverage of the shooting incident made Buttafuoco a minor celebrity. During Fisher’s trial, Buttafuoco appeared frequently on mainstream and tabloid news programs and talk shows and gave multiple interviews to all forms of media.5 David Letterman, in his last year of hosting Late Night with David Letterman, discussed the incident so often that Buttafuoco’s name was a recurring punchline,14 while Saturday Night Live parodied the case in multiple sketches.15
jerry400 about 3 years ago
This is where living on a different continent can get difficult .. not heard of any. I only know “Gilligan” because it was mentioned in Galaxy Quest