Mascots Behaving Badly

This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human. What if mind control is real? If you could control the behavior of anybody around you, what kind of life would you have? Can you hypnotically persuade someone to buy a car? When you look at your car, you're going to become overwhelmed with such good feelings. Can you hypnotize someone into sleeping with you? I gave her some suggestions to be sexually aroused. Can you get someone to join your cult? NLP was used on me to access my subconscious. Mind Games, a new podcast exploring NLP, a.k.a. neurolinguistic programming. Is it a self-help miracle, a shady hypnosis scam, or both? Listen to Mind Games on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is Special Agent Regal, Special Agent Bradley Hall. In 2018, the FBI took down a ring of spies working for China's Ministry of State Security, one of the most mysterious intelligence agencies in the world. The Sixth Bureau podcast is a story of the inner workings of the MSS and how one man's ambition and mistakes opened its vault of secrets. Listen to The Sixth Bureau on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Amanda Knox, and in the new podcast, Doubt, the Case of Lucy Letby, we unpack the story of an unimaginable tragedy that gripped the UK in 2023. But what if we didn't get the whole story? I've just been made to fit. The moment you look at the whole picture, the case collapsed. What if the truth was disguised by a story we chose to believe? Oh my God, I think she might be innocent. Listen to Doubt, The Case of Lucy Letby on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Nancy Glass, host of the Burden of Guilt Season 2 podcast. This is a story about a horrendous lie that destroyed two families. Late one night, Bobby Gumpright became the victim of a random crime. The perpetrator was sentenced to 99 years until a confession changed everything. I was a monster. Listen to Burden of Guilt Season 2 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I would also argue there's probably not a lot of national chain restaurants that can facilitate an orgy. campsite media rory here's a bit of a curveball for you okay do you know what the e and chuck e cheese stands for entertainer entertainment yes because that's what he provides right It doesn't mean that and some killer pizza. Pure uncut entertainment for kids and grownups. Love that. Have you been to many Chuck E. Cheese's? You know, I assume you and I both, when it was showbiz, remember back when it was showbiz and it was the bear? I went all the time as a kid. And then I think I went several times when it became Chuck E. Cheese and then kind of phased out. However, I probably went more times than most people aging because I had so many younger siblings that that was also like a destination kind of play place. It's a wild joint. Yeah. I mean, kind of gross, but also kind of awesome. Yeah. And we have one in Brooklyn, so my wife especially, but we've been many times with our kids. Of course. It's kind of a godsend. They sell wristbands for unlimited games for the kids. Yeah. And they serve booze. Yeah. Which is not something many kid hangouts do. It's smart. It's a smart move. You just have to be willing to watch a grown person in what could reasonably be viewed as a rat costume dance periodically. Yep. And honestly, once you've been into enough boozies, that becomes more and more entertaining for you. For you, right? The kids are playing kids. A bunch of parents doing the electric slide. Right. So you may be wondering what this has to do with the crimes. Allow me to show you a video Lane's going to play, which explains. And you can tell the audio listeners what we're seeing here. Okay. Lane, can you cue this up? Oh, yeah. Uh-oh, here we go. I see police. They're entering a Chuck E. Cheese. They are going into the very front of the Chuck E. Cheese. We're going to detain the mouse, do you? We are. Did you hear that? What did he say? We're going to detain the mouse? Yep. They look like they don't know fully how to do this, given the fact that there's parents and kids. Maybe a little awkward, right? It looks like people are trying to move away from the rat. Okay. Okay, they're arresting Chuck E. Cheese at Chuck E. Cheese. And I gotta say, you can tell that they, in that moment, they're like, don't resist. And you can tell it's not like, hey, because you're under arrest. They're almost like, don't make this look worse than it already looks. You can tell that they are like, don't resist for optics reasons. Yeah, right, exactly. So we don't have to tackle the mascot in front of a bunch of children. You want to guess what state we're in? Um, I mean, it's, is it Florida? Yes. Of course it's Florida. Yep. It's never Idaho. You know what I mean? It's never Wisconsin. One of these episodes, I'm going to fool you. I'm going to ask you and you're going to say Florida and it will be perfect. Okay. So it's Tallahassee, the capital of Florida. You know what? That's zero surprises there. So if you listen closely at the 22nd mark, one of the cops says, we're going to detain the mouse. Which you don't hear a lot. You don't. In fact, that might be the only time in the history of policing that that sentence has ever been stated. So there's another incredible piece of police dialogue that's sadly not captured here, but I found it in a Fox News report. So I'll have to do a dramatic reading for you. Yeah, here we go. Chucky, come with me. Chucky, Chucky, stop resisting. You're being detained. Stop resisting. Do not cause a scene here, sir. Chucky. how respectful to just call him by the character's name especially because they do know the name of the guy in there obviously because they're there for but they're they don't want to break character it's like arresting santa how do they still care about the the suspension of disbelief for the children they're like in the car before okay okay larry yeah whatever you do don't call him kevin yeah he's whatever you do don't disrespect the art of theater whatever you do these kids this could have an impact on their lives. And what do I say before we ever detain anyone? I always say theater above everything else. So Chuck E. Cheese gets arrested in Chuck E. Cheese. Yeah. They escort then the giant rat mouse out of the store in cuffs. This is in July of 2025. Not that long ago, last summer. I mean, months ago. This is months ago. The person inside that costume, because, Roy, there is a human in there. It's not real. Okay, now I don't fully trust you as a person. If your daughter listens, earmuffs. If you're saying that there's a person in there, then fine. Yeah. I mean, we all believe different things, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. That person is named Jermell Jones. He's a 41 year old Florida man who's arrested on suspicion of credit card fraud. Okay. So, all right. Could have been way worse, right? Yeah. A guy in a Chuck E. Cheese, your first instinct is not credit card fraud. Okay. You're thinking like, does the mouse sometimes take off his pants? Yeah. Yeah. So, you're telling me that they are detaining the rat at work, I was under the impression we were about to hear about a disturbance going on inside. This makes me feel a little bit better from the perspective of the children. And I got to say, it makes me wonder if cops understand timing. Like, hey, maybe when the guy clocks out, maybe we get there, maybe we skip coffee and we get there before the guy clocks in. Or at home. Or at his home, his place of residence. Nah, let's traumatize these kids. So I got to say, I'm now pro. I'm now pro Jamel, for sure. Okay. All right. Credit card fraud? Shit, we've all wanted to live that life. So if the cops are taking this very bummed out rat mouse out of the restaurant. Rat mouse. A kid tries to get close for a photo, causing one cop to say, Chucky's a little busy, ma'am. And when the kid is visibly and audibly bummed, you can hear the mom yell the question. I think we are all asking, would y'all put Mickey Mouse in cuffs? Yes. Discrimination. This is mouse rat discrimination. Exactly. Yeah. They would never do that to Mickey Mouse. No, the cops would have yelled out, we're not allowed at Disney World. Which, honestly, they're probably not, right? I'm guessing. That's got its own jurisdiction. I genuinely think that might be true. certainly you'd have to get disney security permission and they'd be like okay here's how we're gonna do it yeah he's not gonna be in the costume yeah we're gonna wait until he's not oh yeah that's possible i thought we were detaining the mouth i thought we had to do it while he was in costume it does not make the police department seem super sharp and i mean again it's not the criminals in florida are it doesn't necessarily mean the police in florida you know No disrespect to either side of the coin, but it's not like cops or, oh, they made a good dad to go get him. Yeah. Could have picked better timing. Could have gotten him at home. Yeah. So here's what seems to have happened. So a Chuck E. Cheese customer lost a credit card after taking her kid there for a party. Easy to imagine. Drop it. Leave it at the counter. Sure. That card was then used by someone to purchase things at a store she didn't use. So that's fraud. And that shop had video footage of the person, a person who appeared to be Jermell Jones. This was plenty of evidence to get the arrest warrant to pick him up. The missing credit card, by the way, was located in his pocket at the time of arrest. Jones claimed he just found it at work and never used it. And he was just, I guess, carrying it around as a good luck charm. Interesting. It's a necklace. He had a hole punched in it. He's got it. That's his Jesus on the cross. It's a credit card. That would make sense, except we also have video of you using the card, sir. And we have documentation that the card has been used. You're going to like this. They also found a small bag of weed on his person, but he had an explanation for that too. He said he was just planning to get his medical marijuana license on the way home. Yeah. Also, we would have accepted, come on guys, I work at Chuck E. Cheese. You think I do this sober? Sorry, you wouldn't do this if you wore a costume as an adult at Chuck E. Cheese. What do you think gets me through the day? It had to do the electric slide. You have to do the electric slide and I walk around while children, honestly, most of them punch me. And based on their size, a lot of times they're hitting me in an area that does hurt quite a bit. So he pleaded not guilty and the matter is ongoing. But one mom who'd brought her family to location that day told a local Fox 13 reporter her kids were upset. We're still processing the trauma. She said, they've been asking a hundred questions. Like, does this mean Chucky's gone forever? Like, what now? Yeah, exactly. That's what I mean. I mean, I understand that we, in the grand scheme of things, dealing with the consequences of Chucky Cheese is trivial. But, you know, these are minimal traumatic moments that happen in a child's life that could have been prevented by the police. It just seems so bizarre to me. They didn't go before or after work or like you said to his house. They ended the childhood innocence of so many people. Yeah, for no reason. There was no reason for that. And then they're just there with no mouse, rat mouse. It's not even like the employees of the church. They're like, wait, so that's kind of our only costume. We don't have backups. If you guys could, you can imagine like the manager running out the front door being like, can we keep the costume? Yeah, can you, what are you doing? At least give us the head. We can replace the clothing. But my God, the price is on getting a giant head costume of a rat. They gave the head back, but I think he wasn't wearing any clothes underneath the suit. I don't think you would. I think you probably would be wearing it as though those are your clothes. I bet you it's so hot. Getting character, you know? You're in character and you're sweating for sure. I mean, underpants, presumably. I think he had underpants on. Let's hope. I didn't see. I mean, that's a shared costume. It's not like Chucky works 24 hours. There are shifts. So I would hope to make the costume sanitary. Everyone wears underwear. Yeah, I'm now very thrown on what's the etiquette of the costume sharing at these type of restaurants. If you are in the costume, is that on you to take that home and get that washed? I'm going to guess no. You might be right. But I feel like, yeah, now I'm thinking I want long underwear. If I'm sharing the costume, I want other people long underwear. In the electric slide in long underwear? No way, bud. No way. You're just in there in your boxer shorts? You're in there trying to make weight for a high school wrestling match. There's no chance. Anyway, I tell you that story as an amuse-bouche. It's a little spoonful of Chuck E. Cheese flavored sherbet because you're in for a real treat. This week, we're going to take on the thrilling and underscrutinized area of America's criminal underbelly. That's right. It's mascots behaving badly this week on Crimeless. Watch your six gritty. In 2023, a story gripped the UK, evoking horror and disbelief. The nurse who should have been in charge of caring for tiny babies is now the most prolific child killer in modern British history. Everyone thought they knew how it ended. A verdict, a villain, a nurse named Lucy Leppie. Lucy Letby has been found guilty. But what if we didn't get the whole story? The moment you look at the whole picture, the case collapses. I Amanda Knox and in the new podcast Doubt the case of Lucy Letby we follow the evidence and hear from the people that lived it to ask what really happened when the world decided who Lucy Letby was No voicing of any skepticism or doubt. It'll cause so much harm at every single level if the British establishment of this is wrong. Listen to Doubt, the case of Lucy Letby on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. China's Ministry of State Security is one of the most mysterious and powerful spy agencies in the world. But in 2017, the FBI got inside. This is Special Agent Regal, Special Agent Bradley Hall. This MSS officer has no idea the U.S. government is on to him. But the FBI has his chats, texts, emails, even his personal diary. Hear how they got it on the Sixth Bureau podcast. I now have several terabytes of an MSS officer, no doubt, no question, of his life. And that's a unicorn. No one had ever seen anything like that. It was unbelievable. This is a story of the inner workings of the MSS and how one man's ambition and mistakes opened its vault of secrets. Listen to The Sixth Bureau on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Nancy Glass, host of the Burden of Guilt Season 2 podcast. This is a story about a horrendous lie that destroyed two families. Late one night, Bobby Gumpright became the victim of a random crime. He pulls the gun, tells me to lie down on the ground. He identified Jermaine Hudson as the perpetrator. Jermaine was sentenced to 99 years. I'm like, Lord, this can't be real. I thought it was a mistaken identity. The best lie is partial truth. For 22 years, only two people knew the truth. Until a confession changed everything. I was a monster. Listen to Burden of Guilt Season 2 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Clayton Eckerd, and in 2022, I was the lead of ABC's The Bachelor. Unfortunately, it didn't go according to plan. He became the first Bachelor to ever have his final rose rejected. The internet turned on him. If I could press a button and rewind it all, I would. But what happened to Clayton after the show made even bigger headlines. It began as a one-night stand and ended in a courtroom, with Clayton at the center of a very strange paternity scandal. The media is here. This case has gone viral. The dating contract. Agree to date me, but I'm also suing you. Please search for it. This is unlike anything I've ever seen before. I'm Stephanie Young. This is Love Trapped. This season, an epic battle of he said, she said, and the search for accountability in a sea of lies. I have done nothing except get pregnant by the f***ing bachelor. Listen to Love Trapped on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello and welcome back to Crimeless, the podcast that celebrates the amazing creativity of the world's dumbest criminals, while also shedding light on the lesser known dark side of things that should bring us joy. This week, mascots. Next week, kindergarten teachers or maybe Labradors. I'm Josh Dean. And I am Rory Scovel in the costume of a man who is a perfect 10. I think we can all agree. Are you wearing any clothes under that costume? And under my clothes, I'm wearing no clothes. So before we leave Chuck E. Cheese in the rear view, I wanted to share something I found on Reddit. I was looking for additional crimes perpetrated in America's Happiest Mall franchise. Sadly, there weren't many entries that rose to the level for inclusion, but I did enjoy one thread of confessions from people who used to work there. That sentence alone is satisfying. I'm going to give you one. The costume room was the only place without security cameras. It became a sex 10. A Chuck E. Cheese sex tape was filmed in said sex 10. The four participants were wearing nothing but the costume heads. I'm not going to lie. That felt obvious, but that's what I was hoping you'd say. I mean, that's got to be gold and only fans. If you just said it was four people having sex in there, any room could be a room. But if they all are wearing the costume heads, and also if all of those costume heads are the same, and it's like Chuck E. Cheese is having sex with three other Chuck E. Cheese's. No idea if either of those things is true, but we now have credible reports of two orgies at national chain restaurants from Crimeless. I would also argue there's probably not a lot of national chain restaurants that can facilitate an orgy. Right. It's true. Because presumably at Taco Bell, it was closed for the Christmas party. That's right. This could have been an open Chuck E. Cheese. That's right. That's a good point. Well, at least for now, we've yet to find the orgy that takes place in an open restaurant, but we're on the lookout. Crimeless Nation. All right. I'm going to read you one more from a guy who worked at Chuck E. Cheese for 20 years as a game technician. So 20 years of Chuck E. Cheese. We may need a documentary about this man. He's seen some shit. But this is verbatim. I'm reading his post. They asked me to be the rat one time. I'm six foot seven. So everything that was supposed to be baggy was comfortable. Like that episode of The Simpsons where Homer goes to clown college. So I walk out there. I'm over seven feet tall with the head on, wearing my own shoes since the suit ones are too small. Children start crying and running away. The poor kid who was there for the birthday shit himself. So they immediately pull me into the back room and get a guy from the kitchen to take over. They never asked me to do it again. Of course. Just picturing it in my mind. I'm like, God, it's so something you'd see at a Marilyn Manson concert. A seven foot. She's wearing small shoes. A seven foot just rat. Hello. Jesus. Like towering over an adult. Imagine a kid. Like a five foot tall adult is a giant to a child. So he also had a second part to his story. He said, my second favorite story was the time the girl I was helping into the suit vomited in the head. So I take it from her. I start carrying it outside to hose it off. Once again, kids start crying. I guess I should have been aware that bringing the severed head of Chuck E. Cheese across the floor could cause some panic in our young customers. Yes. Oh, my God. He's been beheaded. Jesus. Thus concludes this week's reading of Chuck E. Cheese stories from Reddit. Classic. New section of the show. New opening section. Tales from Chuck E. Cheese. I could go on, but I have some other mascots to shame. Okay. Do you have a favorite mascot? You know, I don't know. I can't remember what the mascot used to be when I was a kid in like the 80s for the Atlanta Braves. It was not a Native American. I was going to say wildly inappropriate. It was. And anyways, that's always been my favorite. I just remember as a kid, it was like almost this very abstract or no, it was like the chicken. I think it wasn't a chicken. That was San Diego. That was the Padres. They did have a chicken or maybe the Braves did too. Whatever that chicken was. He loved it. That famous chicken is like ingrained in my mind. I'm a Mets fan, so I'm partial to Mr. Met, who is often accompanied by his spouse, Mrs. Met. Yep. Giant baseball head on a little tiny body. Yep. But our next story today pertains to a different National League team, the Pittsburgh Pirates. Do you know what the Pirates mascot is? I mean, I want to say it's a pirate, but I feel like this is a trap. It's the pirate parrot. Okay. Yep. And back in the 1980s, the parrot was a very bad boy. so first a little history the pirate parrot was not always the pittsburgh mascot he actually hatched out of an egg on april fool's day in 1979 as a promotional stunt and just stuck oh people loved it they loved it they loved the parrot hatching out of an egg um do you by the way do you know where the idea of pirates having parrots as sidekicks comes from no robert lewis stevenson's treasure island oh he he started that his main pirate long john silver carried a parrot yeah and That's what people assume was the origin. I mean, I did look into it. It seems like there's some reason to believe because pirates were in the Caribbean and that's where a lot of these beautiful, colorful birds are. They probably captured them and carried them around. Right. I think we've given pirates a little bit more fun of a vibe than they more than likely were. I think that's fair. I don't know if they were friends with birds. By the way, though, can you imagine the first pirate or European to step on ground and meet a colorful bird that talks? But also, can you imagine being the pirate where the other pirates are like, there's a bird on your shoulder. And being like, yeah, it's my friend now. Do you want to hear him talk? Okay, well, I'm pretty certain you've been drinking a lot of the ocean water because what are you saying? Yeah, well, listen, he talks and he's my friend. He's my friend. So the first man to wear the pirate parrot costume was named Kevin Coach. And he served in that job for seven years, known for his high energy appearances and for having a hell of a time. I may know why. Let me play you a little tape. I feel like it's always cocaine. Maybe I don't need to play you the tape. This is Kevin Coach, better known as Pirate Parrot. But the man behind the Pirate Parrot costume was more than just an on-field entertainer. He became an unexpected link in a drug chain that reached deep into the Pirates Clubhouse. Again, this is the same as finding a little baggie of pot in the pocket. Guys, I'm the mascot for a Major League Baseball team. Fucking leave me alone. But wait, but wait, he wasn't just possessing. Well, he's trying to make a little scratch on the side. He's a parrot. He's having fun. So in 1985, Coach gets a visit from some very surprising fans, FBI agents working on a case against a known cocaine supplier who've been selling to many people around Pittsburgh, including coach who wasn't just using for his own supply he was selling it to players yep there we go so the feds make him an offer if you'll cooperate with the investigation and provide evidence against the bigger dealers and help to expose this emerging scandal that players in major league baseball are using coke and playing they'd forgive the small matter of a hundred federal charges they could charge him with yeah so he becomes a cooperating witness uh as as anybody would exactly so it seems to me like they like using the pirate name but they don't like supporting the pirate culture. I mean, Long John Silver would definitely make him walk the plank for turning state's evidence, I think. Honestly, it's more absurd and zany that they play baseball. We're pirates who play baseball. Now that feels like drug use. Coach's cooperation leads to the so-called Pittsburgh Drug Trials, an extremely high-profile affair that put a number of dealers behind bars and exposed widespread drug use in the sport. It caused the commissioner to suspend 11 players including some major stars. One of those stars was Keith Hernandez who I know and love as an ex-Met. You may know from the classic Seinfeld episode The Boyfriend, which Jerry says is his favorite episode of season three, by the way. You better bring your gloves. It's freezing out there. It shouldn't take too long. I'd say maybe, oh, four hours. But the big problem, it's going to be real difficult getting it down the stairs. Stairs? So anyway, Hernandez admits to using coke for three years and told the court or a grand jury that he estimated 40% of players at that time were using blow. Yeah. The Wikipedia about these trials is quite a romp. One pirate, John Milner, claimed he bought two grams of Coke in a bathroom stall during a game. Another player left to go score during a game. And Tim Raines, legendary bass stealer, said that he snorted Coke during games and sometimes kept a gram in his pocket in a tiny glass vial. So he slid into basses headfirst to make sure he didn't crush it. God, doesn't that make you kind of love baseball in a weird kind of way? You're like, yeah, it's good to know that people have their priorities. I mean, they're out there for nine plus innings. Let these people have some fun. So maybe we need to bring back the cocaine use. Let me ask you, Josh, do you want to watch sober baseball or do you want to watch cocaine fueled baseball? And I think any red blooded American knows exactly what they want. I think when you put it that way, there's no question. Let's bring back the Coke. When people were like, ah, steroids. Was it not fun watching McGuire and Sosa go at it? Was that not a pleasing moment in baseball history? Well, so Coach, who beat out more than 100 applicants for that job, told an HBO documentary that 15 to 17 of the pirates on that year's team were using the product. And that he was simply a delivery man for a freelance photographer pal who was the actual dealer. Yeah. Coach told the documentary, I never stopped to think. I thought, this will last forever. We'll never get caught. Boy, the choices you make are huge. The drugs end up taking your dignity away. It's like a quote from one of those don't do drugs movies. Yeah, I think it's what Johnny Depp said at the end of the movie, Blow. So I think the lesson here is don't do coke, but if you do, make sure you slide head. But if you do, make sure you play baseball. After the case, Coach moved to California and became a truck driver. He still living there today I mean that when you definitely you actually need Coke for that job Okay, we're not going to change sports or move far for our next story. We'll just drive 300 miles to the east on the Pennsylvania Turnpike to Philly. Love it. Former home of Producer Lane, as well as those coin thieves and the Delco pooper. We find ourselves in similar locations. There's a lot of crimes in certain spots. It's like Florida or Philly. Yeah, right now. Yeah, those are our numbers. It's also home of an incredible mascot for the Phillies. Do you know who that is? Isn't it like the weird? It's like got a honking nose. It's not even like a thing. I don't know what it is, though. Philly Fanatic. Philly Fanatic. P-H-A-N-A-T-I-C. Yeah. Lane, you chose. There you go. Yep. I mean, now that's fun. If someone's listening overseas, try to describe what this thing looks like. So it's a green monster, legs and arms like normal. Very Sesame Street-esque face with like sort of a horn nose covered in fur at the end. And eyebrows are very, very Muppet Babies kind of vibe wearing a Phillies jersey. Well, according to his official bio, he's six foot six, weighs 300 pounds and hails from the Galapagos. But his actual origin story, and you're pretty much spot on, he was a relic from the 70s. The Fanatic was introduced on April 25th, 1978, replacing the prior mascots, Philadelphia Phil and Phyllis, don't have quite the same ring to them, who wore a colonial garb and leaned into the city's history. So Philly, obviously the mascot has to be way more chaotic than that and ideally neon green. So the team's owner asked Jim Henson supposedly to come up with a mascot and Jim wasn't available. So you were right. You mentioned the Muppets is extremely Muppety. Instead, they went to a New York City company to cook up a concept and they delivered this classic. The USA Today once wrote this. From the top of his neon green head to the tip of his bubble-toed size 20 shoes, the Philly Fanatic is every inch the best mascot in the business. He's as much Philadelphia as Cheesesteaks, the Liberty Bell, and Rocky Balboa. Sure. One of the most popular mascots in all of sports, but he also has one more dubious claim. Do you want to guess what that is? No. What is it? He's the most sued mascot of course. Of course. Of course. Not a thing I made up. A paper by the Cardozo Law Review actually stated this, and the team's spokesperson later took issue, of course. And let me offer the evidence. In 1993, the team settled a case for $25,000 after the fanatic accidentally kicked a pregnant woman in the back and shoved her forward during a game against the Reds. Wow. Accidentally? Keyword. Yeah, I'd have to see video of that. In 1995, a 72-year-old man won $128,000 at a jury trial after the fanatic knocked him down during a church carnival. and in 1998 the mascot was at the opening of a paint store when he hugged a man named charles donahue from behind apparently with a bit too much enthusiasm donahue claims the hug resulted in a ruptured disc and a jury awarded him 2.5 million dollars in damage oh my god how great is that also isn't it fun to picture that no one's hiring the fanatic but fanatic is literally a citizen of this town and is just at these events and also being very on brand with their behavior the whole time yeah or it's like yeah just trying to blend in and maybe he's doing this he's like i didn't mean to hug him so hard look at me i'm a giant green thing i could never do anything right come on fanatic you just you're too fanatical ah i pushed that pregnant lady i just was trying to get her to get up and start dancing. It's all from such a peaceful, loving place. Yeah. I just wanted to hug the man. Yeah. This is Lenny of Mice and Men Lenny is the Philly fanatic. I have a fourth case. The most recent one is from 2008. And the fanatic took a little road trip to one of the minor league affiliates in Redding. That's where 75-year-old Grace Cass, who was at the game with a church group, claims that the fanatic climbed into the stands, as mascots often do, and sat on her lap, causing arthritis that ultimately required knee replacement surgery. Yeah, I could imagine. I could imagine something like that sits on you. The costume alone is probably its own weird, you know, material. I don't know. And she's 75. She's 75. What's the fanatic doing? Like, come on. Read the room. He's probably saying, you think I can see out of these eyes? Yeah, the Phillies are like, God, if we didn't have all these lawsuits, we could afford a superstar player. We could really put some people on the field. So here's what Grace's attorney told a reporter. He was aware of how bad this looked going after a beloved mascot who was just trying to get the fans fired up. He said, this is like suing Santa Claus. I'm expecting him to come out to a deposition, stick out his stomach and tongue at me and not say anything. I kind of love that. That's a great, that's an all-time lawyer saying. So he's not being a dick. He's like, I know how this looks. Yeah. All right. Speaking of amazing quotes, the guy who wrote the article for the Cardozo Law Review, sports law professor Robert Jarvis, pointed to the very term, and I think you made this point, fanatic, while attempting to explain how this neon green bird keeps ending up in court, he said, it's in his name. He has to walk around and do crazy things. He's been around so long, he has to keep topping himself. I gotta say, not a bad argument. I see it. So hard to argue with that. And I would say our takeaway is never turn your back on the fanatic. Yeah. Watch your six. And yeah, never be there. Never, like, if you see the fanatic, inch away. Watch from afar. Or if you're 75. You're a target. Yeah, you're a target. Honestly. After the break, a few more sports mascots who got into hot water. China's Ministry of State Security is one of the most mysterious and powerful spy agencies in the world. But in 2017, the FBI got inside. This is Special Agent Regal, Special Agent Bradley Hall. This MSS officer has no idea the U.S. government is on to him. But the FBI has his chats, texts, emails, even his personal diary. Hear how they got it on the Sixth Bureau podcast. I now have several terabytes of an MSS officer, no doubt, no question, of his life. And that's a unicorn. No one had ever seen anything like that. It was unbelievable. This is a story of the inner workings of the MSS and how one man's ambition and mistakes opened its vault of secrets. Listen to The Sixth Bureau on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. In 2023, a story gripped the UK, evoking horror and disbelief. The nurse who should have been in charge of caring for tiny babies is now the most prolific child killer in modern British history. Everyone thought they knew how it ended. A verdict? A villain? A nurse named Lucy Letby. Lucy Letby has been found guilty. But what if we didn't get the whole story? The moment you look at the whole picture, the case collapses. I'm Amanda Knox and in the new podcast Doubt the case of Lucy Letby we follow the evidence and hear from the people that lived it to ask what really happened when the world decided who Lucy Letby was no voicing of any skepticism or doubt it'll cause so much harm at every single level of the British establishment of this is wrong listen to Doubt the case of Lucy Letby on the iHeartRadio app Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts I'm Clayton Eckerd, and in 2022, I was the lead of ABC's The Bachelor. Unfortunately, it didn't go according to plan. He became the first Bachelor to ever have his final rose rejected. The internet turned on him. If I could press a button and rewind it all, I would. But what happened to Clayton after the show made even bigger headlines. It began as a one-night stand and ended in a courtroom, with Clayton at the center of a very strange paternity scandal. The media is here. This case has gone viral. The dating contract. Agree to date me, but I'm also suing you. Please search warrant. This is unlike anything I've ever seen before. I'm Stephanie Young. This is Love Trapped. This season, an epic battle of he said, she said, and the search for accountability in a sea of lies. I have done nothing except get pregnant by the f***ing. Razzler! Listen to Love Trapped on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Nancy Glass, host of the Burden of Guilt Season 2 podcast. This is a story about a horrendous lie that destroyed two families. Late one night, Bobby Gumpright became the victim of a random crime. He pulls the gun. tells me to lie down on the ground. He identified Jermaine Hudson as the perpetrator. Jermaine was sentenced to 99 years. I'm like, Lord, this can't be real. I thought it was a mistaken identity. The best lie is partial truth. For 22 years, only two people knew the truth until a confession changed everything. I was a monster. Listen to Burden of Guilt Season 2 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello and welcome back to Crimeless, the only podcast brave enough to unmask sports mascots as the menace to society that they truly are. Yes, true. Our next story takes us to a new sport, basketball. All right. As well as to a new city also known for unruly fans, the Windy City, Chicago. Yeah. Okay, next trivia question. Do you know the name of the Bulls mascot? I bet it starts with a B because sports love alliteration. Benny the Bull. Benny the Bull. Benny and the Bull. So back in 2006, the guy who then was portraying Benny, Barry Anderson, 26 years old. And he also had to have a B in his name. They were very critical of that. If your resume, Rory, Josh, we don't see it a chance. Okay, Barry, you're Benny the Bull. So good that felt rolling out of my lips. Barry Benny the Bull. So Barry Benny was riding one of those adorable tiny motorcycles at the Taste of Chicago Festival, which included riding through Grant Park. It's always off hours. These guys are getting in trouble. So he's riding his tiny motorcycle through Grant Park when an off-duty cop who's working security attempts to stop him. The reason, he's riding his motor vehicle in the park without a permit. And when the cop working security tries to stop and check his papers, Anderson did what a mascot breaking the law was inevitably going to do. He ran. Yeah. But he's a grown man wearing a giant bull costume, so he didn't get very far. Yeah. Yeah, you're not running a four flat 40. I think the cops is like, okay, come on. Yeah. So he gets caught, and that's where the real trouble starts. Oh. According to cops, Anderson threw a punch, knocked off the deputy's glasses, and broke his watch. He was arrested, charged with misdemeanor battery, and driving within a parkway and taken in for booking. And in this case, the costume was sent immediately back to the bulls' headquarters at the United Center. so although city officials later spoke out in Benny's favor saying that he was always welcome at city events and charges were ultimately dropped what yeah I mean I don't know maybe it could have been you can imagine it's like the fanatic situation where maybe he didn't mean to knock the glasses off he's just like I'm in a giant suit dude I get knocking the glasses off I want to know how he broke the watch well yeah so anyway the charges were dropped Benny the bull lived on, which brings me to our final story of the week and probably the most on the nose. And for this one, we go to California, Pennsylvania. Okay. Did you know that was a town? No, and I don't approve of it in any capacity. It's about to get worse because we are going to the confusingly named California University of Pennsylvania, which should not be confused, and I'm not making this up, with Indiana University of Pennsylvania. It's not. This is such a lack of creativity locally. Or Miami University of Ohio. It's just... I could go on. I know. I won't. It's wrong. It's wrong. Sports teams from California University are known as the Vulcans. And the Vulcan, if you don't know, is the mythological god of fire. So the mascot is then called Blaze. Makes sense, right? Yep. Back in 2010, the guy who played Blaze, a 20-year-old named James Schaefer, took the role a little too seriously when after the homecoming parade, he set a float on fire. To be fair, the float had broken down the street. And while he is the god of fire, but cops did not find this amusing, they arrested Schaefer and charged him with arson, criminal mischief, disorderly conduct, and my favorite new crime that I learned this week, risking a catastrophe. Cool. Very cool. A crime I suspect you're sometimes guilty of when you eat mushroom chocolates before going on stage. Yeah, always. Schaefer was not immediately fired, and the school even issued a supportive statement. This young man is a well-known and well-liked member of the community. The university acknowledges the serious nature of the charges he is facing, but our immediate concern is for his health and well-being. Also, no one was harmed. That's a good school. They got your back. I like that. I like it. Yeah. I may be biased. And you are. We've always said that every episode. We say you are incredibly biased. And especially so in this case because I come from Morgantown, West Virginia, home of WVU, which is famous for, among other things, for its students' love of setting couches on fire. Oh, no, I didn't know that at all. Not an urban myth either Okay Consider these facts Morgan Town ranked second nationally to Columbus Ohio a city much larger between 2008 and 2012 in intentionally set fires LA came in third Just the city alone. Morgantown has about 30,000 people in Morgantown. Wow. Data provided by the Morgantown Fire Department in 2004 showed that the city led the nation with 1,129 intentional street fires in a six-year stretch from 1997 to 2003. So the irony here is that education clearly is not keeping kids from making poor choices. Not at all. They're making more poor choices. Yeah. I'm guessing most of those students were setting their first fire. Their first arsons. Yeah. This is where they learned it was at college. They did. That's interesting. And it's not only sports. Here's a video of Morgantown on the night Osama bin Laden was killed. Any excuse. Any excuse. Man. Hard to tell what's on fire or something large. Probably a couch or several couches. Bin Laden's dead. Couch burning at WVU. Man. Eventually the town got sick of it and started trying to curb the trend. Here's another clip. I like that the town eventually got sick of it. Yeah. 7, 10, 20 years later. They're like, let's get famous first. Then let's try to scale it back. This is a couch. It's for sitting. And sleeping. And losing your remote. Where else would you keep spare change? Burning a couch isn't cool. it can cost you a lot more than you think so don't be stupid be smart celebrate with class all right and this is why i i'm like why are we getting rid of sesame street these things are so critical to people's development we're gonna have to put that psa on social media i mean also like the squarest thing possible that could have been made this it's so square but also absurd that they had to even do that. Guys, couches are for sitting. Oh, okay. For college students, advanced education, people who are paying tens of thousands of dollars. Advanced education. People that are getting an education that will put them in debt for the rest of their lives. When you come to that realization that you can't pay off your student debt, then start setting stuff on fire. Don't do it in the middle of learning. Yeah. What's the rowdiest thing you ever did in college? We set couches on fire. I don't even know. I mean, I don't think we ever did anything that was insane. I think we did the most usual thing of going to parties that are broken up by police and you run. Yeah. You know, there was like a little bit of high school and college. But nothing where you're ever like, oh, this is illegal. This is bad. Ideally, you weren't running in the mascot costume. Exactly. Well, my only regret about this is that we have to move on because I could tell these stories. I was especially entertained by the research this week. I love this. We may have to do a part two of Mascots Behaving Badly. Yeah, sure. But I think it's time to move on. And after the break, you know what happens. Lane is going to test our intellectual mettle. Lane's Games. That's next. Greetings, Crimeless Nation, and welcome back to everyone's favorite segment, Rory. Lanes Game. What are we playing this week, Lanes? I have a personality quiz for you guys that I didn't make up, but it is from a website called AnimalAndYou.com. Because we talked about mascots, but we didn't talk about any furries. And I think you guys should establish your fursona. Yeah. Okay. Let's go. A quick statistic for you. According to Fur Science, a summary of five years of research from the International Anthropomorphic Research Project. This is a very legitimate study. Over two-thirds of furries identify as male and over 80% identify as white. Not shocking at all. All I'm saying is this could be something for you guys. You're saying that so far we're in the running. Yeah. We've got what it takes. Also, I think if you asked either of us to say, is it more men than women and is it more white people than other ethnicities? We would have been like, yep. Is it not 100% of both? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I found this quiz on the subreddit, r slash furries, and a couple people said it was pretty accurate. It's only 10 questions. Okay, let's go. Let's do it. Josh or Roy, who wants to go first? Roy, you go first. Okay. How physically big are you? Are you quite small and petite? Are you smaller than most but sturdily built? About average, bigger, or extra large? Okay, so I am about six feet, and I think I'm like 190. Is that average, or am I slightly bigger than most people? I don't really know. I think it's slightly bigger than most people. Okay. All right. How aggressive are you? Do you avoid confrontation? Do you go look for trouble, but you're no pushover? You're kind of middle ground, but you only react aggressively if it's called for? hot-headed or forceful. Don't mess with me. We'll do middle ground. Middle ground. Okay. How social are you? Generally self-contained, keep to yourself, prefer the company of small groups, pretty outgoing and comfortable socializing with all groups or extremely outgoing can function with all types of people. I would say I prefer the company of small groups of friends. Okay. How attractive do you think you are? Perfect 10. Okay. I'm attractive and turned heads mother nature yes creativity you're not one for writing songs are you pretty good at coming up with creative ideas i think i'm the last one i definitely love creating how how do you rank selflessness and cooperation wise very compassionate put the needs of friends and families above your own uh you're cooperative and willing to help friends in need but you have a life too or you look out for number one call me selfish but a friend in need is a pain in the ass probably that middle one i think i'm a little bit of both how intelligent are you oh i'm like smartest i'm smarterest just don't ask him vice presidential trivia thank you thank you how athletic are you do you watch tv does that count uh you like to keep fit but it's not top priority or you're very physically active i gotta say sadly i think it's number one in my mid 40s, which is not the time when you want to start to become less active. Traveled exploration. Do you stay home? Do you go away for day trips and long weekends? Love vacations or you love traveling? I mean, here's the caveat is that I do love traveling, but it's always for work. So I'm never like vacation traveling. I just have a fun job. So that traveling is not a headache it's like getting to go perform but when i'm home i do want to kind of stay at home so maybe it's the middle one maybe the middle one last one how impulsive are you uh you're more impulsive than you should be pretty thoughtful or always deliberate and cautious i would say middle one okay pause you're a wild cat and i'm allergic to cats so we know this is Perfect. Inaccurate. Attractive, spiritual, sexy, uncommitted. There's a little sponsored ad for Heated Rivalry here. Ooh, dancer, travel agent. Your specialty got a Heated Rivalry programmatic ad. You love massages? Traveling? Yeah, it's clearly sponsored. You love AT&T? Like, wait, why would it say that? Okay. I think what we should do is now Josh should take this. Yeah, Josh should go do it now. See if we match. Okay. Wait, go on. Who are the celebrities? I saw Fergie. Fergie is a wildcat, as is Heather Locklear. Yeah. Perfect. Yeah. That's the only two others. I get that a lot. People are like, you're like a male version of Fergie and Heather Locklear. All right. My turn. How big are you? I think I'm pretty average sized. You're average or somewhat bigger than most. What do we think? I'm like 5'11". If Rory's 6 feet, I'll do average size. Okay. How aggressive. Oh. Very or little or medium? I think a middle ground aggressively when the situation calls for it. Okay. How social are you? I'm pretty introverted generally. Let's go with the top one. Keep mainly to myself. I'm generally self-contained. Okay. Guy with a public podcast that speaks to many, many strangers across the globe. How attractive do you think you are? I'm going 10 out of 10. Attractive and turned heads. Let's see. Creativity. I'm pretty creative. I like I'm let's go with out of the box creature. Okay. You love playing guitar. Selflessness. I'm going to go middle here too. I don't think I'm super. Yeah. Intelligent. I'm going to go. I'm actually very good at Jeopardy. Let's go with I'd score high in Jeopardy. How athletic. I'm going to say I like to keep fit, but it's not my top priority. Okay. Travel and exploration. Love exotic lookouts. Loves exotic lookouts. And how impulsive are you? Let's do middle. Pretty thoughtful. Pretty thoughtful, but there's room for improvement. All right. What do we got? Wait, what? Wait, does it just always give Wildcat? No, I'm a penguin, if that means anything to you. In the furry community, it means you're the most dressed up. I was trying to pick, to have enough be different and be authentic. Oh, okay. So friendship-wise, beware of petty jealousies, but also high score for love and sex. All right. Only Josh and I know deep inside that that's inaccurate. Yes. Dang. So start commissioning those furry costumes of wildcats. Yeah. Yeah, Josh. I think we know Halloween this year. I did like Heather Locklear when I was a teenager. No, I mean, grade school. I put Heather Locklear in first crush territory for sure. Yeah. So, all right. Melrose Place? Come on. You know we weren't supposed to be watching that. That wasn't for us. Heather Locklear, if you're listening. Let us know. Two big fans right here. Two of your biggest fans. Heather, if you're out there, write us, please. Heather, please. We'll see you next week. Bye. At the furry convention. Bye-bye. Crimeless is a production of Smartless Media, Campside Media, and Big Money Players in partnership with iHeart Podcasts. It's hosted by Rory Scovel and me, Josh Dean. Our senior producer is Lane Rose. Emma Stiminoff is our associate producer. We're sound designed and engineered by Blake Brook with support from Ewan Leitrim Ewan. Mark McAdam composed our theme song. The executive producers at Campside Media are Vanessa Gregoriadis, Matt Scherr, and me, Josh Dean. The executive producers for iHeart Podcast and Big Money Players are Jack O'Brien, Lindsay Hoffman, and Matt Apodaca. For Smartless Media, the executive producers are Will Arnett, Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, and Richard Corson. Bernie Kaminsky is head of production. The associate producer is Maddie McCann. A special thanks to our operations team, Ashley Warren and Sabina Mara. Do you have a question, comment, or confession for the Crimeless team? Email us at crimeless at campsidemedia.com. And if you enjoyed Crimeless, please rate and review the show wherever you get your podcasts. It helps people find the show and also makes us feel validated, unless you're mean. In which case, keep it to yourself. We'll see you next week, Crimeless Nation. Thank you. Someone to join your cult? NLP was used on me to access my subconscious. Mind Games, a new podcast exploring NLP, aka neurolinguistic programming. Is it a self-help miracle? A shady hypnosis scam? Or both? Listen to Mind Games on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Amanda Knox, and in the new podcast, Doubt, the case of Lucy Letby, we unpack the story of an unimaginable tragedy that gripped the UK in 2023. But what if we didn't get the whole story? I've just been made to fit. The moment you look at the whole picture, the case collapsed. What if the truth was disguised by a story we chose to believe? Oh my God, I think she might be innocent. Listen to Doubt, The Case of Lucy Letby on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Nancy Glass, host of the Burden of Guilt Season 2 podcast. This is a story about a horrendous lie that destroyed two families. Late one night, Bobby Gumpwright became the victim of a random crime. The perpetrator was sentenced to 99 years until a confession changed everything. I was a monster. Listen to Burden of Guilt Season 2 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Clayton Eckerd. In 2022, I was the lead of ABC's The Bachelor. But here's the thing. Bachelor fans hated him. If I could press a button and rewind it all, I would. That's when his life took a disturbing turn. A one-night stand would end in a courtroom. The media is here. This case has gone viral. The dating contract. Agree to date me, but I'm also suing you. This is unlike anything I've ever seen before. I'm Stephanie Young. Listen to Love Trapped on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.