Instant replay: Alleged yo-yo champ dupes TV shows
By Don Walker of the Journal Sentinel
Kenny Strasser, who either lives in Antigo or Neenah or maybe somewhere else, says he a yo-yo champion, loves talking to schoolchildren and wants to save the Earth.
He's been divorced twice, doesn't have any kids, and has personal issues with members of his family. He also says he's had drug and alcohol problems.
Or so he says.
It's not entirely clear who Strasser is. What is clear is that a person who called himself Kenny Strasser, Kenny Strassburg, or K-Strass managed to persuade at least five television stations - four of which are in Wisconsin - to put him on live television in recent weeks.
Two other stations - both in La Crosse - came close to putting him on, but were warned ahead of time that Strasser was not who he says he is.
His latest appearance occurred Thursday morning on KQTV's "Hometown This Morning," in St. Joseph, Mo.
"He got us," said Bridget Blevins, the station's news director. "I hate that we got duped."
And how good was he with the yo-yo, a skill Strasser has said made him a champion? "He did some really lame things. He hit himself in the face and the groin with his yo-yo," Blevins said.
Lisa Malak, who anchors the "Sunday Morning" show on WFRV in Green Bay, thought it would be fun to book somebody who said he was a yo-yo champion. When Strasser showed up April 11, he said he forgot the string for his yo-yo. With no tricks, Malak and Strasser spent their live TV segment talking.
"It was the most bizarre thing that has ever happened to me on the air," Malak said.
In each case, producers at the television stations received an e-mail from Joe Guehrke, saying he represented Strasser and ZimZam Yo-Yo, "the world's first 'green' " nonprofit toymaker.
Guehrke told the stations that Strasser, whom he called a "master yo-yo artist," would be in their area to bring his environmental message and "zany sense of humor" to kids.
Guehrke wrote in one e-mail to a TV station that Strasser was a dynamic talk-show guest who comes "equipped with a roster of amazing yo-yo tricks, juggling and fun tips about how kids and adults alike can take small steps to make the world a greener place."
The e-mail solicitation stated that Strasser was a runner-up for Rookie of the Year in 1995, grand champion at the Pensacola Regional and was nominated for the Walt Greenberg Award in 2000.
There is no Walt Greenberg Award in yo-yo, and there is no evidence Pensacola ever hosted a yo-yo tournament or that Strasser won a rookie of the year award.
But the solicitation was good enough for the bookers on the TV stations.
This just goes to show how desperate local news shows are for time fillers. Its pretty sad that there's not enough legitimate news to fill a two-hour news cycle in many of our nation's largest markets. That should probably show us that there is definitely no need for a 24-hour news cycle. Its just repitive shlock that pits us against each other or phonies hitting themselves in the nuts with a yo-yo. Seriously, yo-yo champion or not, who would put that guy on TV dressed like that?
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