By RODNEY HO/ rho@ajc.com originally filed Monday, April 4, 2016
Jason Bailey on Rock 100.5 this year played upon radio partner "Southside" Steve Rickman's vanity by concocting an elaborate April Fool's Day prank involving a fictional "redneck rabbit" character in an animated film.
Three weeks ago, he and his fellow morning show cast came up with the fake animated movie. They created a dummy website and an audition page where they had a dummy email to correspond with Rickman. The supposed casting director had met Rickman 15 years earlier and inspired him to go to Hollywood to make it big.
They wrote a script and had Rickman's agent Paul Anderson involved as well. Bailey even tried to get comic Hal Sparks in on the joke. Rickman paid staff to put together an audition:
The reveal on Friday:
Once clued in he had been fooled, Rickman said on air that he suspected the entire movie was fake.
"All you did was hurt my family," he said. "I knew it!"
"You were about 95 percent in," Bailey said.
Rickman vowed revenge. "You have lit the fuse," Rickman said. "You will rue the day."
"It was hook, line and sinker from day one," Bailey said.
Then someone a week ago someone on Twitter questioned it. "I read that and went, 'That's very possible,' " Rickman said. "The characters you use don't exist."
Bailey admitted he tapped Rickman's ego.
Later, in a text, Rickman wrote: "I definitely didn't feel stupid just because with me the glass is always half full. I'm not a skeptic! I always see the best in everyone and try to make everyone feel their best! I definitely felt got. I had that chill and slight burning sensation all over my body knowing I had been rug pulled. I really got my hopes up and my feelings were hurt just a little bit. Of course, at the moment of receiving the script, I felt flattered. Who wouldn't? It's a shame. I think I would've made a good "Buck, the Redneck Radio!" Hare C'mon!"
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