Bill Gates Gets Pie in the Eye
   1.43 p.m. ET (1843 GMT) February 4, 1998

   Photo
   AP
   Bill Gates, the Chairman of Microsoft Corp., comes face to face with a
   cream pie


 BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) — Microsoft's Bill Gates was
     creamed with something more personal than subpoenas or lawsuits on
     Wednesday: A faceful of pie.

     The chairman of the world's most powerful software maker was
     arriving for a meeting with Belgian business and government leaders
     when a prankster threw the cream pie directly in his face.

     With cream dripping on the shoulders of his dark business suit and
     covering the lenses of his glasses, Gates was led into a side room
     of the Concert Noble to clean up. He later emerged, looking
     somewhat embarrassed as he met with Luc van den Brande, the prime
     minister of Flanders, Belgium's Dutch-speaking northern half.

     Police arrested two pranksters and were looking for a third. They
     did not identity them.

     "We regret the incident (but) will not press charges," said a
     spokesman for the Belgian office of Microsoft Corp., which is based
     in Redmond, Wash.

     U.S. television networks quickly started bidding as much as $4,000
     for pictures of the world's richest man getting creamed.

     While the pie-throwing incident was unique, Gates is no stranger to
     getting targeted. The incident comes just two days after law
     enforcers from 11 states served Microsoft with subpoenas, mirroring
     the Justice Department's probe into the company's aggressive
     competitive practices.

     There were unconfirmed reports the cream pie was thrown by Noel
     Godin, a Belgian prankster who has struck at famous people before,
     especially in France where his targets have included philosopher
     Bernard-Henri Levy and filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard.

     Gates' day included visits to the Belgian employers federation,
     Belgian Prime Minister Jean-Luc Dehaene and the European Union's
     headquarters.

*****************************************************************

from news.com

   Gates gets creamed
   By Margie Wylie
   NEWS.COM
   February 4, 1998, 1 p.m. PT
   URL: http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,18822,00.html

   update Bill Gates, a man used to having his cake and eating it too,
   today had his cake and wore it too.

   In
   Bill Gates pied -- AP photo
   The pieman cometh for Gates Brussels, Belgium, to visit European Union
   officials, the Microsoft chairman was struck in the face with a cream
   pastry--a cake or possibly a pie--as he was entering a government
   building to give a speech on education.

   The prankster escaped, but one accomplice and a cameraman were taken
   into custody and later released after Belgian prankster Noel Godin
   appeared on television to take responsibility for the attack.

   Gates will not press charges, according to a Microsoft spokeswoman.

   Godin, a fun-loving anarchist, has made a name for himself targeting
   the rich, famous, and pompous with cream pies. His exploits have
   become so renowned that a French word has been coined to describe the
   act of being creamed: entarter.

   Perhaps one of the most famous men in the French-speaking world, Godin
   himself is called "L'entarteur," or "the Pieman." He often appears on
   TV shows and films and is an author of a book about his exploits.

   Those who take Godin's public creamings with good humor are never
   bothered again. However, L'entarteur has been known to repeatedly
   target people who react with ill humor to his antics, what he calls
   the "revolt of laughter."

   In the wake Microsoft's investigation for antitrust violations, Gates
   has made a concerted public relations push to come across as a
   regular, easy going guy who can take a joke.

   Starting at Comdex in Las Vegas last November, Gates began screening
   videotaped parodies of himself at his frequent speeches. He has said
   in interviews that Microsoft's haughty, defiant image is the fault of
   the press. The company is "humble" and "respectful" before the law. He
   even broke into song in a recent interview with Barbara Walters.

   However, the billionaire, who is said to dislike even a touch from
   strangers, didn't seem to take the joke as well when he wasn't the one
   making it. He appeared shaken and angry as he rushed from the site of
   the creaming.

   "Oddly enough, [Godin] apparently complained that [Gates] didn't react
   strongly enough," the Microsoft spokeswoman said.

   "This incident is very unfortunate, especially in light of the types
   of things Bill is trying to do," she added. "He later made a joke
   about how the cream didn't even taste that good." Only time will tell
   if that's good humored enough for the cream puff catapulting Godin.