Publicity stunt du jour: Sebas of Regular Guys messes with media by pretending to burn a Quran
In a stunt that aimed at the absurdity of the media coverage of the issue, Rock 100.5's Regular Guys' Sebastian "Sebas" Daskawicz- Davis pretended to try to burn a Quran in front of cops at the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Fla. on September 11. (Pastor Terry Jones, the head of Dove World, in the end, did not hold his "Burn the Quran" day.)
According to the Gainesville Sun, Sebas' "efforts" were thwarted by a police officer.
"I was prepared to have a sympathy - a solidarity - burning," he said early in the afternoon.
The story said he was not arrested.
This from AllAccess. Sebas said he never had any real intention to burn the book. But the cops took him seriously.
On the air this morning, he said that as he left Gainesville, a motorcycle officer tailed him and pulled him over for an alleged busted brake light, at which point "about a half-dozen cop cars roll up and a K-9 unit showed up."Â The police allowed Sebas to leave town, since he had not broken any laws.
In an email Tuesday morning, Sebas said the media reaction to his stunt pretty much played out as he expected:
What I was looking to investigate was how much of a frenzied mess the media had created for itself. I think that was displayed fairly well in the reaction on-site, and in the wide range of coverage and inaccuracy of reporting afterward.
He also added that he didn't get to any point he was even trying to light any book whatsoever before the cops took them away from him. (He also had copies of "Eat, Pray, Love" and "Twilight.")
The impression I got from the conversations there that morning was that Gainesville local officials did not want it to be known as the place where a Koran burning took place, and they were going to do anything to prevent it from happening. I understand their not wanting to look like a backwoods, jerk-water town, but think they went over the line, which included tailing me and harassing me when I got away from the site. Another thing we didn't get into as much on the air was the long dressing-down I got from one of their detectives while their K9 unit was inspecting my van.
Here's Sebas' take on the situation he posted on YouTube:
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About the Author
Rodney Ho writes about entertainment for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution including TV, radio, film, comedy and all things in between. A native New Yorker, he has covered education at The Virginian-Pilot, small business for The Wall Street Journal and a host of beats at the AJC over 20-plus years. He loves tennis, pop culture & seeing live events.
