Comedy Central announced that they will air comedian Steve Rannazzisi’s stand-up special Saturday night as planned, days after he admitted to lying about escaping from the World Trade Center on September 11.
According to ABC News, the special, “Steve Rannazzisi: Breaking Dad,” is set to air at 11 p.m.
In past interviews, the comedian has said he was working as an account manager at company Merrill Lynch in the South Tower when the first tower was hit on Sept. 11. In a 2009 interview he gave with fellow comedian Marc Maron, he said he escaped and got to the streets before the second tower was hit and both buildings collapsed.
“I worked on the 54th floor of the second tower,” Rannazzisi said, adding that Port Authority told him and his co-workers that “everything’s being taken care of” and to remain where they were on that day. Rannazzisi chose not to listen and left the buildings, even describing where he was standing when the second tower was hit.
After the New York Times reported inconsistencies in his story, Rannazzisi’s publicist released a statement saying, “As a young man, I made a mistake that I deeply regret and for which apologies may still not be enough. 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 towers on 9/11. It wasn’t true.”
Rannazzisi added how for years he wished by keeping his silence it “could somehow erase a story told by an immature young man,” and how ashamed he was by the lie he kept.
Comedy Central said in a statement released this week, “We are very disappointed to hear about Steve’s misrepresentations and are currently determining how we will move forward.”
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