Monday, 19 September, 2011

Statement From Mediaworks Regarding Fake Pilot

The fake pilot incident that has been widely reported on today was part of a sketch filmed for Wanna-Ben, a comedy series produced by Yoink Productions for TV3.

MediaWorks was not privy to details of the shoot before it took place on Saturday.

We have subsequently spoken to the production company about the incident, and are satisfied that the company did not intend to breach airport security, nor create a major security alert.

The three Yoink Productions staff involved, Ben Boyce, Bryce Casey and Andrew Robinson, alerted police as soon as they realised there was concern and are being fully cooperative.

The matter is now before the courts and does not affect the show as scheduled for this week, which is a rugby-themed one-off Wanna-Ben special.

Obviously we would never encourage or condone any illegal activity. We will be monitoring the progress of this matter through the courts and making decisions accordingly.

Ben Boyce has asked that the following statement be included on behalf of himself and Yoink Productions.

“I am so sorry for all the trouble this has caused. We did not intend to breach security or cause any worry or concern. This was an attempt at humour which we fully accept was misplaced. We did try to contact the police as soon as we could to tell them there was no threat.

“I cannot say how sorry we all are.”

ENDS

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