Jon Benet Ramsey says he regrets getting his daughter involved in pageants and now says that Toddlers & Tiaras is bizarre. Considering his daughter is the one who made the pageants famous, and probably gave them a big boost in popularity those are some surprising words. He used to be a huge fan. I guess maybe he thinks that his daughter was not as crazy as the Toddlers & Tiaras crowd. Well, I don't think anyone is. They take the extreme so that they will have an interesting show.
He says that his wife and daughter did it just for fun. I think that is what all the moms would say who are on the show. Well, that and fame and a short cut to their own reality show.
Hey John (I think "Jon Benet" was the daughter, and the father is just "John," no?), pretty sure you know exactly what happened to your daughter. Howzabout you comment on THAT, 'kay?
ReplyDeleteI'll give him a pass on this. It is nearly 20 years between when his daughter did pagents and Toddlers and Tiaras. Time does allow for things to degrade, become bizarre, etc.
ReplyDeleteAnd most activities do start as "something fun" and become rather extreme. You can see this in dance, sports, music, etc.
Patsy Ramsey had been Miss West Virginia and as such competed in either Miss USA or Miss America, IIRC.
ReplyDeleteSo she was fully immersed in the whole pageant thing and was obviously steering her kid into it fairly deeply.
I still say there was something ICK going on in the Ramsey household.
ReplyDeleteI watched part of a show of T&T and it made me want to puke. The mama wanted to make the toddler "SEXY" ---- WTH? When you want to sex up a toddler to increase your time in the spotliight you need deep psych. help.
All kiddie pageants are disturbing, but the T&T crowd are certainly on the extreme end of things. One important distinction I see between the Ramsays and the T&T crowd is that the Ramsays could at least afford their strange little pasttime. What I find disturbing is how so many of the T&T families clearly are stretching their financial resources to participate in the pageants. Families are asking their other children to make tough sacrafices, just so their real-life Baby Doll can get a new competition gown. College fund? Hells no! Baby is going to make it big and take care of us all!
ReplyDeleteI don't know if the dad murdered his daughter. I just don't think there's any evidence.
ReplyDeleteIt's a big thing where I live. I have a sister-in law who would love to put my 3 year old into it. I flat said no. Until she is old enough to ask and understand, she isn't doing it. I have all ideas she would rather go with her daddy fishing than put on a ruffled dress.
ReplyDeleteI don't watch that show but I've seen pictures, looking at the JB and the current photos they have gotten a lot worse. They were wigs, bra cones, make-up, Julia Roberts hooker outfit from Pretty Woman. I don't get them now or then though.
ReplyDeleteI can never remember the real details from the JB case other than the police effed it up. Were the parents ever really cleared? When the Mom died was someone arrested because they had confessed for it that was later released because he didn't do it?
Yes the parents were cleared. And as most everyone at the time I felt John was guilty but over the years I've changed my mind.
ReplyDeleteYes the parents were cleared. And as most everyone at the time I felt John was guilty but over the years I've changed my mind.
ReplyDeleteI think the brother killed Jon Benet.
ReplyDeleteCLEARLY Patsy wrote the "ransom note"--remember how the amount asked for was the same as the amount the father just got in a bonus? Authorities agreed that Patsy wrote the note...but couldn't pin the murder on either parent....because they didn't do it.
I think the brother was jealous of all the attention Jon Benet got and killed her, then the parents covered it up.
I have always believed her death was ritualistic. I think Patsy was into the darkest form of worship.I don't think John was.
DeleteIn situations like this the non -involved family member is drugged so they can take the child. I have distant relatives who went thru this same nightmare except the child victim survived. After much therapy and deprogramming the child is said to be ok. Some very sick and demented people in this world.
Every since my husband (who is in law enforcement) made the comment these shows are like the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue special for pedophiles ,I see them in a whole new light. :(
ReplyDelete@ deree - you are SO RIGHT. I love that scene in "Little Miss Sunshine" when the father asks the other audience member which one is his kid and the guy basically says he's there just to watch the little girls. All these parents are purposely exposing their daughters to pedophiles.
ReplyDeleteMy sister did this just for a local pageant with her two young daughters. I didn't really like it but went to try to be supportive since it was only local and just a one off, not a series of pageants.
ReplyDeleteIt backfired on her each time and it was pretty funny. They are both pretty girls and were contenders until during the one pageant my older niece told the judges just exactly how she felt about her brother and not in flattering terms. For my younger niece, she just started getting bored during the pageant and her eyes started wandering. Then she lifted her dress slightly and scratched her leg on stage LOL. I still laugh thinking about it and happily that ended the pageants.
Even thought he was so young, I, too thought the brother could have been a suspect at the time. I believe he has been totally cleared by now as well.
ReplyDeleteMy second-best guess at the time was the family friend who played Santa a lot.
This being said--it sucks enormously that people like me *accuse* in our minds and in the court of public opinion.
But whomever it was, they have continued to go free...
Also--holy shit, @deree! Gawd, the sickos in this world...
I know it's really popular to be all "pedophiles will see!" But please. Most children know their abuser. It's not usually some mustachioed man in a conversion van parked outside the school and perpetuating this myth does nothing to protect children.
ReplyDeleteI always thought Jon Benet was killed by somebody who knew her.
ReplyDeletePageants are so ick nast to me. I can see how John Ramsay's opinion of pageants could have changed over the years.
I have always been so obsessed with this story.
IIRC, EVERYONE in the family home was exonerated by DNA evidence. That includes John, Patsy, and Burke. It would be awesome if people would stop condemning them in light of these facts.
ReplyDeleteNo one was exonerated by DNA. NO ONE. The sample was too degraded and probably years old, probably a result of contact at manufacturing of JB's underwear. That DNA was not from recent contact, so it didn't matter, though John Ramsey has used it to claim exoneration, over and over again.
ReplyDeletePatsy did it. I feel for her. I think it was an accident and she was out of her mind after it happened (hence the bizarre ransom note.) Too bad the Ramsey's made the whole thing worse with their hiring of Lou Smit, publicists and lots of lawyers. A lot of people profited from this case and the Ramsey's need to protect their rep.
Anyone else see that photo and want to weep a little? Far out.
ReplyDeleteI think the father has taken a step back and seeing things from the other side realised what his daughter was doing. That being said I'm sure pageants back then didn't have toddlers dressing up as prostitutes.
I'm a firm believer that whomever actually did it, will get what is coming to them in the long run.
ReplyDeleteShe really was a beautiful little girl. But pretty little girls do not need to be taught that being pretty is the most important quality they have.
Well...I think JBR was a far cry from, say, Honey Boo Boo Child (thank you to whoever introduced me to that on Facebook). For her father, maybe hindsight is 20/20?
ReplyDeleteI *DO* think the parents/kids on Toddlers & Tiara take it to another level. I cannot watch that show much. It makes me terribly stabby.
You guys know that Toddlers and Tiara's is largely faked, right?
ReplyDeleteThe show hooks up with the weirdest families they can find and even sets up pageants for the show only. That way, they get 18 hour days to shoot footage of the "fake" pageant that they couldn't get in real ones.
The winners of actual pageants (not the ones set up by TLC) are often edited out and scenes reshot to make it look like one of the T&T girls won something. Many shots are filmed after these pageants are over, with only T&T girls present and their families. Later, shots of an audience is edited into the scene.
Don't believe everything you see.
@plot: I know this is from Wikipedia, but it's still factual:
ReplyDeleteOn July 9, 2008, the Boulder District Attorney's office announced that as a result of newly developed DNA sampling and testing techniques, the Ramsey family members are no longer considered suspects in the case. In light of the new DNA evidence, Boulder County District Attorney Mary Lacy gave a letter to John Ramsey the same day, officially apologizing to the Ramsey family:
"This new scientific evidence convinces us...to state that we do not consider your immediate family, including you, your wife, Patsy, and your son, Burke, to be under any suspicion in the commission of this crime...The match of Male DNA on two separate items of clothing worn by the victim at the time of the murder makes it clear to us that an unknown male handled these items. There is no innocent explanation for its incriminating presence at three sites on these two different items of clothing that JonBenét was wearing at the time of her murder. ... To the extent that we may have contributed in any way to the public perception that you might have been involved in this crime, I am deeply sorry. No innocent person should have to endure such an extensive trial in the court of public opinion, especially when public officials have not had sufficient evidence to initiate a trial in a court of law. ... We intend in the future to treat you as the victims of this crime, with the sympathy due you because of the horrific loss you suffered. ... I am aware that there will be those who will choose to continue to differ with our conclusion. But DNA is very often the most reliable forensic evidence we can hope to find and we rely on it often to bring to justice those who have committed crimes. I am very comfortable that our conclusion that this evidence has vindicated your family is based firmly on all of the evidence."
You can't use Wikipedia as a reference, EVER. Quote the original source.
ReplyDeleteyeah and jonbenet was involved in a pedophilia child porn ring....satanic ritual sacrifice
ReplyDeletehttp://www.conspiracyplanet.com/channel.cfm?channelid=36&contentid=3887&page=2