Monday, December 10, 2012

A Prank Gone Wrong

When news broke that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, William and Kate, are expecting their first baby, baby fever broke. Countdowns started, rumors of twins swirled and breakdowns of the royal hierarchy occurred on every news outlet. 

A radio show in Australia decided to chime into the commotion by prank calling the hospital that Kate Middleton was staying at, for severe morning sickness. The hosts of the show, Mel Greig and Michael Christian chose to impersonate Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles. In the prank call, they spoke with a member of the nursing staff, Jacintha Saldanha. Grieg and Christian inquired about the baby and obtained private information about Duchess Kate's condition. For the rest of the prank, the talk show hosts rattled on about corgis and random eccentric comments before hanging up, failing to mention that this was all a joke.

Later in the week, Saldanha was found dead of apparent suicide. Soon after news of her death broke, Greig and Christian's Twitter accounts were suspended and their radio show pulled off the air.

What do you think about the prank? Is it fair that the radio hosts receive all of the blame? Let us know!

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