PunkAssBlog.com

Apparently, ABC/Disney and Fox have more in common than their fanboy crush on our heart-throb prezzie. Based upon recent on-air snafus, both networks also seem to have a bad case of the “they all look the same”s.

Shortly after Fox, ahem, accidentally played footage of John Conyers while discussing the William Jefferson indictment, ABC showed tape of former DC mayor Marion Barry during their coverage of the $54 million dry cleaning lawsuit brought by Roy L. Pearson.

In what I’m told was an apology, ABC spokeswoman Natalie Raabe offered the following explanation for their actions:

The mistake happened because both men happened to be in a Washington court that day and ABC got video of both, Raabe said.

Well, that explains everything. How on Earth can we ask a major national network to be adequately prepared for the astronomically rare situation of having video of multiple people from the same location? That’s like expecting Congress to check the President or Americans to use mass transit.

The article also notes that ABC anchor Charles Gibson tried to reach Marion Barry personally for an apology. That’s awful nice of Gibbie, but I guess I’m wondering why Roy Pearson’s getting the snub. Are we certain he doesn’t mind being confused with Marion Barry? More importantly, are we certain he doesn’t mind being confused with another person simply because they’re both black and were at the same location in the same day?

And yeah, just in case you’re a confused troll, it is about race. Otherwise, we’d be hearing anchors saying things like, “here’s a photo of Paris Hilton, who — I’m sorry, it looks like we’ve got a graphic of Madonna up, and we — no, I apologize, that looks more like Ann Coulter, which — and now they’re telling me that this is in fact Barbara Bush. Yes, that’s Barbara Bush, who was also at a hotel this week. Our sincere apologies to the former first lady.” For some reason, that really doesn’t happen to white people on air, does it?

For the record, this is Pearson:

And this pic of Marion Barry is the closest likeness to the above photo of Pearson I could find:

Both men are balding. Both men are black. Other than that, if you have trouble telling them apart, either your eyes aren’t good enough for media work or you need help.