Back in March, a Howard Stern fan named Joseph Bassolino (above right), or “Joey Boots” to his fans on YouTube, spotted a WABC news van and knew that a reporter was about to go live from Union Square in New York City. His goal was to pull off a perfectly-timed “Booey Bomb,” which is the childish tradition of jumping behind a reporter and shouting, “Baba Booey! Howard Stern’s penis!” in honor of both Stern and Gary Dell’Abate. Sure enough, Joey Boots made the 4 PM report and nobody from WABC was pleased about it, especially the reporter on the scene who tried to have him arrested.
Boots knew his rights, though, and the cops couldn’t arrest him. But as he recorded and eventually posted to his YouTube account, the cops were waiting for him when the 5 PM report was filming, and as he shouted, “Baba Booey!” he was grabbed by some officers and ticketed for disorderly conduct. Boots told Vice yesterday, though, that he was determined to stand up for himself and refused to pay the fine, because it is simply not illegal to shout, “Howard Stern’s penis!” in front of a camera.
And a New York judge agreed with Boots by dismissing the case. This man no longer has to pay for being annoying, and he is free to keep f*cking up your local news reports.
As for the decision, Boots claimed that he was “on cloud nine,” and he never lost focus of sticking it to the man.
In May I had my first court appearance, and they offered me a plea deal, an “ACD,” which is an adjudicated compensated dismissal. That means, if I’m good for six months and I don’t get into any trouble, they’ll dismiss the case.
Did you take it?
I turned that plea deal down. First of all, I can’t promise I’ll be good for six months. But also it’s a matter of principle. I wanted to show that what I did was not illegal, so I chose to have a trial, which was today. I had three attorneys with me, a crack legal team. They were the best, man. I love ‘em. So we went in and had the trial, and when the cop was testifying, the judge was like, “What’d he say?” and he was like, “Howard Stern’s penis. Baba Booey.” And the judge was like, “Do you know what Baba Booey is?” And the cop was like, “No.” And the judge smirked before he looked back down at his papers. So I’m assuming the judge was a Howard Stern fan. Not he they gave me any leeway—it’s just that he knew. He didn’t question me, like, “What is it?” (Via Vice)
Ultimately, the judge called the Stern fan’s actions “inappropriate” but not illegal. There’s no word yet on whether or not the Supreme Court will handle an appeal.
