‘Bumfights 2’ goes on sale on Internet

By Timothy Pratt

Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2003 | 10:55 a.m.

The Las Vegas-based company that produced the controversial but profitable video "Bumfights" announced the release of a second video this week.

The company, Bumfights LLC, has been taking orders for "Bumfights 2" since last weekend, Ty Beeson, one of its producers, said.

The video includes many of the same elements that drew criticism of the first production -- street fights and homeless people engaged in outrageous acts, as well as violent scenes contributed by viewers from around the world. Up to half of the footage in "Bumfights 2" was filmed in Las Vegas, Beeson said.

These elements -- particularly scenes in which it was alleged that homeless people in Las Vegas and San Diego were coerced into violence -- made the first video the subject of criminal proceedings, a civil lawsuit and opposition from a member of Congress.

The controversy fueled worldwide media coverage, which the video's producers say helped fuel sales of "around 400,000" videos, entirely over the Internet at $20 each -- mostly to teenage males, Beeson said.

Beeson also said the second video comes with a disclaimer that he hopes will satisfy his critics.

"Basically it says our purpose is to promote awareness through satire about issues like poverty, homelessness, addiction, the lack of education and violence," Beeson said.

The video's producer mentioned a scene that he thought might attract heat.

"It's a parody of the TV show, 'Cops.' Guys get out of a van and frisk a homeless guy, then they take him in the van and throw him in a Dumpster. But the scene ... is just a gimmick, it's not real."

But the first video's critics weren't buying it.

"There's no other way to look at this than as exploitation of the homeless," Metro Police Sgt. Eric Fricker, who heads up a police team that works with the homeless downtown.

"There's more positive ways to ... raise awareness besides outrageous acts," he said.

Fricker took part in lengthy investigations by local authorities of the first video only to establish that its filming broke no laws. He also worked with California authorities in a criminal case that included seven felony charges against the first video's film crew. The charges were dropped and the crew pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge. They were sentenced to three years' probation each and community service.

Fricker also said he "will be looking closely (at the second video) to determine if any criminal acts were committed."

In California the video is still the subject of an ongoing civil case.

"Why am I not surprised?" said Santa Monica-based attorney Browne Greene, who filed the lawsuit, when told of "Bumfights 2."

Greene is representing Rufus Hannah and Donald Brennan, two homeless men who appeared in the first video, seeking economic damages after they say they were coerced into committing "horrific acts."

"This is volume 2 in the never-ending story of greed," Greene said. "The video should be called Despicable Acts No. 2."

Greene, who has been in settlement negotiations over the first video, said the second video's release "puts things in a different perspective -- since they are involving themselves in more monetary gain."

Beeson said one of the attorney's clients -- Hannah -- appears in the second video, in footage shot at the same time the first video was filmed.

"We have lengthy waivers and contracts allowing us to use his likeness and are not worried about the lawsuit," Beeson said.

The video has had one defender all along -- Ted Hayes, director for Dome Village, a Los Angeles-based shelter for the homeless.

Hayes said Zachary Bubeck, one of the video's film crew, called him three weeks ago to talk about doing some of his community service time at the shelter. He said he has no complaints about the video because he believes it may actually help the homeless.

"As long as they're bringing up the question of homelessness, it's all right with me," he said.

Hayes compared the video's producers to "wolves," the homeless people who appeared in it to "sheep" and the government and those who work with the homeless to "shepherds."

"How can you be mad at a wolf for eating sheep? He's hungry," he said. "You have to be mad at the shepherd who let the sheep go.

"If the government, social service providers and advocates ... did their jobs, the filmmakers wouldn't have their job."

In any case, the orders are starting to roll in for "Bumfights 2." At Bumfights LLC Tuesday afternoon, Beeson said the second video would be available at Virgin Records and Tower Records and in Great Britain and Scandinavian stores next month, as well as over the Internet.

Fricker, the Metro sergeant, pointed to the video's apparent worldwide popularity and recalled the lack of progress local authorities had in shutting down the video.

"It's ironic -- they don't raise awareness, we don't raise awareness, the media don't raise awareness. All we do is raise sales."