Friday, November 14, 2014

Frank Taffee - Reality Show Tour or Genuine Remorse?

frank taffee
Frank Taaffe once told me Nancy Grace was a "lovely" person off-air
“The only time a black life is validated is when a white person kills them.” - Frank Taaffe

Frank Taaffe testified in front of the Department of Justice Grand Jury on Wednesday, but as I predicted, there's really nothing earth-shattering to report.  He basically said there was a phone call, from an unknown caller, who he thought may have been George, but couldn't be sure.  The caller made racial slurs.  Frank said he is doing this because, after losing two sons, once since the death of Trayvon Martin, he knows what it feels like to lose a child.  Taaffe said he is also doing this for his daughter who is being ostracized by other service members where she is stationed.  Apparently Taaffe, and my friend Jason Goodman, were conversing and texting over the phone, and I can only imagine what Frank told Jason he was in possession of to make Jason so excited for Frank to testify before the Grand Jury...one thing Taaffe didn't have (as far as we know), were text messages:
Frank's change of heart started sometime in May, 2014.   It is unclear what Taaffe's motivation is, or was back then, but I doubt it had much to do with conscience.  On April 29th Frank Taffee posted on his Facebook page about being ready to go on the air to sound off against Ms Ali on the Dr. Drew show regarding Donald Sterling, whom Frank felt said nothing racist and should receive no punishment.   On April, 30th Frank wrote a post on Facebook about “abating the hate”, and one day later he posted about getting a pitch for a reality show with Ms Ali.  Was Frank promised fame and fortune for his change of heart?

frank taaffe
Miss Ali and Frank Taaffe on Dr. Phil
In an interview,  May, 2014, Taaffee said, "From what I know of George, and his tendencies, I think he racially profiled Trayvon Martin that night".  Notice he doesn't mention anything about a phone call during that interview.  To clarify what Frank would know of George Zimmerman's tendencies, George Zimmerman and Frank Taaffe were never "friends", much less "good" friends. Frank went to the press, completely on his own, to defend Zimmerman, he was not asked to do so by anyone associated with Zimmerman, and in fact, has been an embarrassment to many in the Zimmerman camp.   With the exception of a recording, very early on, that Frank was rumored to have sold to a local news station, Zimmerman has not spoken to Taaffe since the incident with Trayvon Martin happened.  On the early recording, Zimmerman simply thanked Taaffe for standing up for him.

July 2014
Frank and George were acquaintances.  At one point, when Trayvon Martin was spotted at The Retreat at Twin Lakes, he was in front of Frank Taffee's door.  Frank had had almost been burglarized just over a week prior, on February 2, and Trayvon fit the profile of one of the suspects - this is part of the reason, obviously, Zimmerman found Martin suspicious, Zimmerman called Sanford police, who thwarted the robbery. 

This matches what Zimmerman said to police in his non-emergency call on February 12.  Zimmerman told the dispatcher: "We've had some burglaries in the past...".

Frank Taaffe, to CNN's "Starting Point":
"My house was being robbed, and George on his nightly rounds watched this burglary in progress, called Sanford P.D., waited for them, and helped ensure that nothing bad happened to my house," Taaffe said. "And it's documented in the 911 call for February 2.  That was my residence that George Zimmerman helped stop."
 Taaffe said that "young black males" were the perpetrators in the attempted robbery of his home. "We had eight burglaries in our neighborhood all perpetrated by young black males in the 15 months prior to Trayvon being shot," Taaffe said. "It would have been nine." [link]
I'm sort of baffled at Taaffe's clam that he wants to apologize to Martin's parents - or that he believes they would accept an apology.  On the Jane Velez Mitchell show:
"This is a tragic case. I think we can concur. But he [Trayvon Martin] wasn’t a child. He was 17-years-old. Trayvon Martin was an unescorted, unchaperoned, guest in our community."
Two years ago Twitter was all abuzz about Taaffe's criminal record, which, according to Martin supporters, made him untrustworthy:

 According to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Orange County, Florida, Clerk of Courts, Taaffe has been arrested or faced criminal charges at least a dozen times, including for drunk driving, stalking, domestic violence, and child abuse. In 2000, he pleaded guilty to trespassing after swiping papers from his ex-wife’s home, and was sentenced to nine months in jail.
Finally, Frances Robles and I are in agreement on at least this aspect of the Martin/Zimmerman case:


Michael Skolnik and this blog have never and will never be in agreement on anything Zimmerman. The above tweet by his Global Grind staff is an example of why.  Skolnik tweeted all throughout the Zimmerman trial, he knows Frank Taaffe was never a part of the trial.


More Frank Taaffe media appearances