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.
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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.
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