NEWARK, N.J. (CAP) - A Bayonne, N.J. man was killed this week after a Facebook quiz convinced him that he was actually Tommy DeVito, the Joe Pesci character from the movie Goodfellas.
"It was weird - after he took the quiz he just kept going around to everybody and saying, What do you mean funny, funny how? How am I funny? and Funny like I'm a clown, I amuse you?" reported Ted Hillerman of East Orange, co-worker of Fred Hemple, 47, whose body was found in a dumpster behind Newark Airport yesterday.
"He even got one of those silk suits and started making his mother cook him lasagna," said Hillerman. "He wasn't even Italian, for crying out loud."
Hemple was last seen alive in Castella's, a known Mafia hangout in Lodi, N.J., going up to random men at the bar and yelling, No more shines, Billy! I don't shine shoes anymore!
The Hemple case was only the latest in a series of incidents surrounding Facebook quizzes, many of which purport to tell participants which character, book, song or famous person they actually are.
"I'd hesitate to call it an epidemic, but it's certainly a prevalent problem," said noted clinical psychologist Tania Manis of New York City. "I've had three patients in the last month alone who were convinced they were actually Hurley from Lost."
Marnie Reynolds of Juliet, Ill., says she required months of therapy after a Facebook quiz - Which Classic Opera Are You? - declared her to be I Pagliacci.
"I mean, I don't even like opera - how could I be one?" she said. "It was hard to come to terms with ... I only took that quiz because I didn't feel like processing the payroll stubs."
The quizzes have even garnered organized opposition, in the form of a Facebook group called "Facebook Needs Better Quizzes That Don't Cause People to be Murdered by Mobsters," which already has more than 100,000 members.
"The quizzes are simply sub-par - just look at the poor grammar and spelling in them," said the group's founder, Sally Kornbluth of Weston, Mass. "Also, how could they say I was Caroline Bingley of Pride And Prejudice when I'm obviously Marianne Dashwood from Sense And Sensibility?"
Facebook spokesman Karl Westerbrook said that the company is taking the concerns under consideration, but noted that people should remember that Facebook quizzes are devised, primarily, by other Facebook members.
"Specifically, other Facebook members who have the free time to devise quizzes," he added. "If you're dumb enough to take anything these people come up with seriously, you may be more of a MySpace person."
- CAP News Staff