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Australian TV comics escape trial over bin Laden prank
2008-04-28
Australian television comics who breached security at a global summit by posing as part of a Canadian motorcade carrying an Osama bin Laden look-alike Monday had all charges against them dropped. The team from The Chaser's War on Everything show came within metres of US President George W. Bush's hotel in September after their fake three-car convoy was waved through security checkpoints. They were stopped only after one of the comedians from the show emerged from a car dressed as fugitive alleged terror mastermind bin Laden. The prank made international headlines during the unprecedented security lockdown in Sydney for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit and proved a ratings winner for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. But 10 men and one woman working on the show were charged with entering an APEC restricted area without justification. New South Wales Director of Public Prosecutions Nicholas Cowdery said the circumstances of the case, which had been set for a two-week hearing in July, were "unusual" and the charges against all 11 had been dropped. Cowdery said the comics, drivers and crew, who carried fake APEC security passes, had been allowed into the secure zone by police. "Police permission in fact constitutes special justification for entry," he said. "Accordingly, there is no reasonable prospect of conviction and for that reason the prosecutions should not proceed." The Chaser team is known for risky stunts which have included doorstepping politicians and asking them to drink beer and posing as journalists to ask celebrities ridiculous questions at press conferences. Other antics include dropping fake cocaine on the red carpet at an television awards night.
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