“If people can confess on Oprah, Phil and Geraldo, I don’t see why they can’t confess right here on Eighth Avenue.” So said Father Anthony Joseph, a Dominican priest from San Bernadino who peddled a confessional booth mounted on the back of a tricycle to the site of the Democratic National Convention in New York City during July of 1992.
—Portofess (JoeySkaggs.com)
“Father Anthony Joseph” is actually hoaxter Joey Skaggs, who has been tricking too-lazy-to-check-sources reporters into covering too-good-to-be-true stories for thirty years. Skaggs writes:
In the back of my mind, I keep thinking about the Jason Blair/New York Times folly and how the Times, with all its self-examination and hypocritical spin failed to admit that news rooms would be emptied if every journalist who had ever stretched the truth, took something out of context, embellished a quote or contrived a story admitted to it.
Dear Sir/Madam, I would love to use your photo of the priest cycling with a confessional on his back; accordingly, I seek your permission to use it for church purposes, no money involved but the thread of the message is about confession. Please let me know.
I don’t own the copyright, so I can’t grant permission. The “portofess” link takes you to the website of the performer, Joey Skaggs.