Ex-astronaut Aldrin accused of punching man

CNN ^ | September 10, 2002

[TomB]

BEVERLY HILLS, California (Reuters) -- A man who publicly confronted astronaut Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin over whether he actually went to the moon said that the Apollo 11 hero almost sent him into space with a punch to the jaw.

Bart Sibrel, an independent filmmaker from Nashville, Tennessee, said he was trying to conduct an ambush interview with Aldrin outside a hotel in Beverly Hills when the astronaut punched him and ran away.

[TomB]

More information from another article

And on a thread from Bad Astronomy, someone transcribed the conversation the precipitated the attack:

Sibrel confronts Aldrin in the street.

Sibrel: "Why don't you swear on the bible that you walked on the moon?"

Aldrin turns to walk away.

Aldrin: "Why don't you turn those off... turn them off..." (talking to the camera operators)

Hotel staff get between Aldrin and Sibrel and attempt to ask Sibrel to leave.

The video cuts to Aldrin and Sibrel standing at the top of some stairs at the hotel entrance.

Aldrin: "Will you get away from me?" (the strain in his voice is evident)

Sibrel: "You are a coward and a liar and a..."

At this point Aldrin punches Sibrel in the jaw with a right hook and then enters the hotel.

Sibrel: "Did you get that?" (looking at the camera with a strange smile on his face)

I wish Buzz had taken this punks head off. Sibrel is an idiot.

[camle]

way to go Buzz!!

[cactusSharp]

shoulda kicked that punk in the balls
I mean levitate that punk.........

[Nitro]

I saw the tape several times and he did give him a pretty good shot!

At least the swing is a good one, you don't see the actual contact but I have a good feeling about this one!!

[Wright Wing]

They played this repeatedly on Shepard Smith's show last night. They put the punch into a loop and it was very funny. Way to go Buzz! It was the last thing the little weenie expected.

[cactusSharp]

plus can we get a TALE OF THE TAPE
you know...age vs age....reach vs reach
leftie,rightie ?

[The Great Satan]

Sounds like we have another Michael Moore in the making here.

[AppyPappy]

PROOF of the conspiracy.

[No Truce With Kings]

To the Moon, Alice!

[shadowman99]

I saw the tape on Foxnews yesterday. It was awesome! Buzz throws a good right hook, the guy goes down flat on his ass! ROTFLMAO!!!

[Vidalia]

Buzz Aldrin's still got 'em where it counts, unlike political whores like John Glenn...

[Frank_Discussion]

LOL! My First thought!

And:
"The encounter with Aldrin was Sibrel's third since he said he discovered footage in NASA's archives showing that the Apollo 11 astronauts had placed a transparency of the Earth in front of their space capsule window and videotaped it to simulate a journey to the moon."

Back in the 1960's when 64K of accessable memory was a huge acheivement in computing, this is how NASA would run visual simulations of such things. DUH!

Sibrel is a complete and otherwise unwavering A$$!

[Vidalia]

Michael Moore's spawn will not last long...

[rockfish59]

You think he told him to 'buzz off' first?

Did anyone see the show on Fox last night about the game show bloopers when Eric Estrada in his excitement, threw his hands up and back and smacked Bill Maher square in the schnozz?
Man, that was great!

[InvisibleChurch]

i saw the tape... the guy was a jerk...he's probably looking for lawsuit $$$

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Sibrel, 37, said he reported the assault to police and was seeking an assault charge against the 72-year-old astronaut.

This guy's hero is obviously Michael Moore. This whole incident is straight out of "Roger and Me."

As far as the "assault" goes, it takes quite a piece of work to deliberately antagonize a man 35 years his senior and then run blubbering to the police when he gets the response he was looking for.

[discostu]

Them's fightin' words. Good for Buzz. People gotta learn to not use those words, calling somebody a liar should get you beaten up (note, I am NOT directing this at anybody on FR... honest, really).

[ofMagog]

Squat Sibrel over a blender set on puree and hit the switch until he apologizes to Aldrin.

[ofMagog]

If Sibrel gets a lawyer to take his case, squat the lawyer over a blender, too.

[GodBlessRonaldReagan]

Alright Buzz!!!! He and Neil are two of my all-time heroes...