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TonyB wrote:It was a horrendous thing to happen, and I sincerely hope the moron who did it spends enough time in prison to learn something. However having seen the actual footage most fire-eaters will have suffered something similar during their careers. I know I have. Painful, but you make a full recovery. I hope it does not affect him beyond a sore head and a few bad hair days. No performer deserves to be treated like this.

Some facts:

1) We participated in a short interview during which I performed Thread, BJ presented a gift to the host & my wife helped to translate.

2) After the performances, the host said that he wanted to give us a "blessing." He asked BJ to hand him a bottle of Aqua De Florida. The host then handed it to my wife and asked her to pour a large amount into his cupped hands. She did. He then turned to BJ and asked him to pick up a lighter from the stage and light the fluid. At this point none of us had any idea what the host planned to do. Personally, I assumed that he was about to perform the old burning hand trick where it would look like his hand was on fire because of the liquid. But to be clear - we had no clue what he was doing or planning. He is not a magician. We had no reason to suspect beforehand that he would perform a stunt. We were filming a national TV spot - we assumed the host to be a professional presenter & therefor trusted him.

3) Seconds after BJ lit the fluid on fire the host turned without warning, poured it on my head and rubbed it into my face.

4) The entire studio was in shock. BJ & my wife were stunned. You can see from the video that it takes a second for me to realize what has happened. I can honestly say that BJ & Frania are more emotionally traumatized over the event than I am. They are angry & devastated that they unknowingly participated in the attack.

5) The video has not been edited. The video posted was an iPhone video from a member of our crew - who is not a magician and had no idea what we were doing or what to expect from the segment. At first he thought it was a trick. He did not film the entire segment, but took still photos and happened (luckily) to switch to video just before the incident. I was told today that we do have the full broadcast video from the studio that shows the entire segment. I'm sure that will be released in time.

6) Of course this is being pursued through legal channels. I will release information when possible.

7) It was 2 hosts of a different TV program that aired 24 hours later that suggested I deserved the attack because of the black magic they assumed I practice. The hosts laughed and mocked the fact that an American magician had been injured. Now that the facts have been released, the hosts of this 2nd show have informed us they plan to fully retract their statements and apologize during today's broadcast.

The attack was intentional. The host didn't trip and accidentally spill it on me... he didn't sneeze. He intended to pour flaming liquid on me. Whether or not he intended to set me on fire is irrelevant as he DID set me on fire. If you take a loaded gun, point it at someones head & pull the trigger (expecting the gun to misfire) and it doesn't misfire - you are absolutely still responsible for shooting someone in the face - regardless of your intentions.

9) Nobody from Curiosidades is pretending to know or understand the hosts intentions. What we do know is that he purposefully took a handful of flaming liquid & dropped it on me. The hosts intentions will play a role in the severity of his punishment - but that's for a court of law to determine & decide.

I sincerely appreciate your support, concern & anger. I hope to post another important update later today.

Wayne

magicdiscoman wrote:can I add this statement to facebook please.