Actor Steve Rannazzisi has admitted he made up a story about escaping the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.
The star of the fantasy football comedy The League confirmed to the New York Times he’s been lying for 14 years about fleeing the 54th floor of the south tower after American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the north tower.
And for several years, it’s been that story of survival that the 37-year-old has held onto as his motivation to leave behind his life in New York and to move to Los Angeles and pursue a career in entertainment.
He had gone so far as to describe feeling the building shaking and making his way out before the second attack when United Airlines Flight 175 slammed into the south tower 17 minutes later.
“I still have dreams of like, you know, those falling dreams,” he said in a 2009 interview with comedian Marc Maron, host of the podcast WTF with Marc Maron.
He recounted the false tale with very specific details about what he claimed to see and experience that day. But in the face of questions about how factual his tale was, he issued a statement saying: “I don’t know why I said this. This was inexcusable. I am truly, truly sorry.”
“For many years, more than anything,” The New York Times reported Rannazzisi saying. “I have wished that, with silence, I could somehow erase a story told by an immature young man. It only made me more ashamed. How could I tell my children to be honest when I hadn’t come clean about this?”
Rannazzisi also put out the message in a series of tweets Wednesday morning.
So what exactly was untrue about his story?
He was nowhere near the World Trade Center that day, he didn’t work for Merrill Lynch and the wealth management firm didn’t even have offices in the south tower or the north tower. He also lied about getting a severance package from the company.
His girlfriend-now-wife also worked 30 floors below in the same building, he claimed, but she hadn’t yet made it to the building when the attacks happened. That was also not true, the New York Times reported. Citing Rannazzisi’s publicist Matthew Labov, the Times reported Tracy Rannazzisi “was scheduled to work as a temp on Sept. 11, but in the World Financial Center, nearby, not in the south tower.”
Rannazzisi moved to Los Angeles and in 2003 got a break in the entertainment industry, when Ashton Kutcher cast him in his MTV series Punk’d. He appeared in five episodes, according to his IMDB page — where his 9-11 story also appears.
In 2009, he landed a role in FXX’s The League; the show’s seventh season premiered Sept. 9.
Rannazzisi also had a comedy special set to air on Comedy Central this weekend, but that is now in question.
“We just learned about this last night,” AdWeek quoted a Comedy Central spokesperson saying. “We are very disappointed to hear about Steve’s misrepresentations and are currently determining how we will move forward.”
And Buffalo Wild Wings is also “reevaluating” its relationship with Rannazzisi, who appears in the company’s advertisements, “pending a review of the facts.”
“We are disappointed to learn of Steve’s misrepresentations regarding the events of September 11, 2001,” the spokesperson said, according to Ad Week.
Critics on social media said Rannazzisi being “immature” was no excuse for his lies.
But, Rannazzisi got a show of support from fellow comedian and SNL cast member Pete Davidson, whose father was a firefighter who died on 9-11.
Davidson tweeted:
Comments