Is Harley Man a private joke?

Did anyone see the Harley Man interview on TV, on 9/11?

I've been studying this vid clip for a while now and I am starting to wonder if the clip itself is a hoax of a different sort. I'm not knowledgeable about "green screen" technique, so I don't know that "Harley Man" was simply inserted into other interview footage of Leventhal from that day as letthereaderunderstand thinks, but I am beginning to suspect that it might be the case.

In addition to peculiarities about the image of Harley Man himself, there is the text crawl along the bottom of the screen. I noticed the messages there. One refers to the crash of United 93 and the other refers to classes being closed at Golden Gate University on that day.

Golden Gate University is in San Francisco. I assume that particular text crawl would have been broadcast only by whatever Fox affiliate was broadcasting in the San Francisco area on 9/11 and that the message would not have appeared on screen in other areas, New York for instance. That means that the only Harley Man footage that I have seen originated on the west coast.

Am I right in this assumption? Has anyone seen Harley Man footage out of another Fox affiliate?

Is it possible that the Harley Man video is a gag that got out of hand? Could a young marine corps officer who also happened to be an aspiriing comic have had a comical idea that would also "serve his country" (think Gomer Pyle here or Sargeant Bilko), something that he and his friends could laugh about at parties . . . at least until the whole thing went viral and became an embarassing problem?

Is Harley Man a private joke? Just asking.

There is no basis to your basic assumption.
I recall distinctly getting informed about various US institutions closing their doors on that day, by name, and i was over here in europe. (cant recall wich institutions were mentioned, it's been 10 years)
The closing of that university was in response to a national event, not a local one. Therefore it would be national news and not local. (not exactly the most importatnt part of national news that day, but national nontheless)

reply to post by debunky

You make a good point, but are you considering the fact that all communities in the United States would have had special notices regarding closures, etc. that day.

Just because of the volume of such things I think local affiliates would carry notices affecting the local community (not all communities in the U.S.) and notices of national interest, like what happened to United 93.

I would like to know if anyone actually saw this interview broadcast on 9/11. To date I have not seen one clean copy of the footage. It is not in the Fox footage on archive.org. I'm beginning to wonder if the Harley Man interview is really genuine Fox footage. I'm beginning to think the whole thing is a crock.

That assumption doesnt make much sense. I can understand what your saying, maybe he was interviewed in front of a green screen, and i couldnt tell ya. I could ya that his interview was odd. i woulda never said anything like that if or when interviewed that day. I wouldnt have been able to say much, with that said, he does seem like an actor. And if tghat is the case then someone shoulda found him and confronted him by now with video cameras. We are to scared to confront people these days.

Maybe the video is genuine Fox footage. Leventhal does seem to respond appropriately as Harley Man is speaking. I can't imagine them getting that part so perfect and screwing up the script the way they did, if the clip was manufactured in studio.

It probably is genuine, but I wish I could see a clean copy of it. One where Harley Man's head doesn't keep changing shape or where his hat doesn't move independantly of his head.

To be honest, I never remembered seeing it on 9/11, but that was many years ago and there was a ton of witness statements gathered. Most of the ones I remember were people describing the actual crashes, or the horror of seeing people jump to their deaths to avoid being burnt alive.

If I did see Harley Man, I most likely would not have remembered.

What would be nice is if someone actually was recording Fox news station that day. As far as the ticker reporting the closure of Golden gate University, I remember, living up in Seattle, recieving news that several places down in San Fransisco were shut down, especially landmarks and major gathering places, since San Fransisco was the destination of two of the crashed planes, AAL 77 and UAL 93.

reply to post by ipsedixit


I remember hearing about them watching the Golden Gate Bridge and other important places on 9/11 and I live in Virginia. I remember some kind of perceived threat on some major NY or NJ road too.

reply to post by bsbray11

I watched virtually all of the Fox footage on archive.org. There was a lot of uncertainty as to what exactly was going on at the level of the news presenters. Various "events" were referred to that never really came up again in any prominent way afterward.

I think now that the Harley Man footage must be a real Leventhal interview because his movements in response to what Harley Man is saying seem to be timed perfectly and seem to be what one would expect in context.

It would be great if someone actually taped it on the day it was broadcast. I can't imagine it being broadcast and originally looking like it does now. Big mystery.


[edit on 28-5-2009 by ipsedixit]

And what would be the implications if it's both a genuine interview and a hoax?

How far do you trust the media?