Actors are often said to be attention-seeking, but “The League” actor Steve Rannazzisi took it to a whole new level when he lied about being in the World Trade Center during the attack Sept. 11, 2001.
Rannazzisi apologized about the fabrication at a panel for his show, but an apology doesn’t quite cut it.
He used a national tragedy to make himself seem important, and, in doing so, he disrespected the men and women who really did suffer from the trauma that he claimed to experience.
Rannazzisi made statements for years that he was in the Twin Towers, in Merrill Lynch’s offices, when the first plane crashed. He has given accounts of the chaos of the attack and claimed to have “falling” nightmares. He also said the experience inspired him to quit his desk job and follow his dreams by entering the world of Hollywood.
In reality, he never worked at Merill Lynch and was not inside the towers Sept. 11.
Psychiatrist Jean Kim wrote in the Washington Post that falsifications of people’s experiences Sept. 11 are not actually uncommon. Patients lie about themselves or a relative being present at the towers in order to benefit in some way, to gain sympathy, for reasons of mental stress and even for Sept. 11 special benefits. In her piece, Kim wrote “I was a psychiatrist in post-9-11 New York. Patients lied all the time about that day. 9-11 was a game-changer for the American psyche and as such might have become a lightning rod for the particular ‘sympathy’ lies it garnered.”
It is understandable that someone who feels a significant emotional connection to an event would perhaps feel the need to justify that connection to strangers by fabricating an actual connection.
However, in this case with a public figure who perpetuated the lie in multiple interviews, it’s just too sinister to be sympathetic.
In Rannazzisi’s case, it is pretty clear what his benefit was. Before he came clean, he enjoyed a pretty steadily rising career in comedy. He cited Sept. 11 as his origin story and the reason he decided to get back into comedy.
The backstory worked to give him attention and sympathy and no doubt endeared him to the public for his perceived bravery and hardship. Too bad it was all stolen.
This isn’t the first time that a celebrity has lied about experiences or their life in general. As a celebrity, your life is your brand, so it’s all a bit of fabrication.
Brian Williams lied about his helicopter being shot down in Iraq for probably similar reasons — sympathy and a seemingly unexplainable emotional connection to a traumatic event.
However, despite the excuses for his lie, and despite the public’s habit of forgiving celebrities as soon as another scandal breaks out, Rannazzisi’s case is too disrespectful to be taken lightly.
The tragedy changed our country forever, and we are still seeing the effects of it today. Thousands of people lost their lives, lost their loved ones and lost their sense of safety that day. It shouldn’t be taken lightly.
For Rannazzisi to use it as an icebreaker, to claim trauma that isn’t his, devalues its effect. This time it will be harder to forgive and forget.
