Soap Opera Makes the Biggest Screw Up -- Ever

Posted Oct 30th 2008 12:49PM by TMZ Staff

The following story is one of the worst mistakes ever made in television history -- involving stupidity, a major soap opera, and a 6-year-old boy who was kidnapped, raped and murdered back in 2007.

It's all over a photo that was used in a recent episode of the SOAPnet show "General Hospital: Night Shift" -- Billy Dee Williams' character received a letter and a picture from the son he abandoned. But the photo wasn't of another actor -- it was Christopher Barrios, the victim of that horrible tragedy we mentioned earlier in this post.

Members of Christopher's fam -- who never authorized the use of a photo -- were furious and told News4Jax.com they had no idea how the pic got on the show. The people at SOAPnet and their parent network ABC were just as stumped.

The network did, however, issue a statement apologizing and vowed to run a series of public service announcements in Christopher's honor to raise awareness of missing and exploited children -- thus putting an end to the most dramatic event in soap opera history.

Filed under: TV


Tags: abc, billy dee williams, BillyDeeWilliams, soap net, soap opera, SoapNet, SoapOpera

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1. So now you're displaying the picture? WTF??

Posted at 12:58PM on Oct 30th 2008 by Duh

2. Yea right how was a mistake like this done?
The family of the victim needs to sue their asses!!!

Posted at 12:59PM on Oct 30th 2008 by noway

3. Awe, you got this from CNN? old news.

Posted at 12:59PM on Oct 30th 2008 by WTF!!

4. Kinda of like another media company that likes showing pictures of murdered children.... over and over....at least they apologized......

I'm just saying.....

Posted at 1:02PM on Oct 30th 2008 by Bootzy

5. Isn't it ironic that you're showing the little boys' picture as you make comments about the Soap TV folks doing it? This would be a good time for you to take the high road and remove his picture.

Posted at 1:04PM on Oct 30th 2008 by Atlanta

6. NEWS4JAX.COM not NEWSJAX4.COM. Don't you people proof stories or is the editor the same guy who approved the spelling of TORRENCE,CA?

Posted at 1:06PM on Oct 30th 2008 by Choppy McSlut

7. NewsJax4.com DOESN'T EXIST! IDIOTS WORK AT TMZ!!!!!!

Posted at 1:14PM on Oct 30th 2008 by John

8. Shame on General Hospital! Tacky, tacky, tacky!

Posted at 1:16PM on Oct 30th 2008 by ugh

9. Yes, News4Jax.com not NewsJax4.com. Jacksonville, Florida Channel 4 News, The Local Station.

Posted at 1:19PM on Oct 30th 2008 by Holli

10. Someone from the show got the picture from somewhere! They should be held accountable. Oh and I agree that TMZ is doing the same thing by showing the picture.

Posted at 1:27PM on Oct 30th 2008 by lara

11. You people are idiots. TMZ is NOT doing the same thing by showing the photo. They are telling a newstory. The soap opera portrayed that boy as a character. NOT the same thing.
Now, get off the internets before you hurts yourself. LMAO!!

As for the story, someone, somewhere knows who got that photo for the show. To exploit a dead boy for a storyline, without doing their research? Unforgivable. They probably thought if it was a picture of a dead boy, instead of an actor, they wouldn't have to pay to use it. Big mistake, this is going to cost them huge!

Posted at 1:31PM on Oct 30th 2008 by Democrats for McCain

12. WHAT'S MUST IMPORTANT RIGHT NOW IS "HAVE THEY EVER CAUGHT THE SICK F%CK WHO DID THIS"?

Posted at 1:36PM on Oct 30th 2008 by Diana

13. And yes, they did catch the perverts who did this. Surprise surprise, it was a registered sex offender (two, I think) living right by Christopher's bus stop, where he wasn't supposed to be. I remember the case when it happened.

Posted at 1:43PM on Oct 30th 2008 by Isabella

14. I don't think it's in bad taste that TMZ is showing the photo. Like someone said above, the soap was showing him as a living character. TMZ is just showing his photo, and keeping his memory alive. If I were his parent I would appreciate it.

This is such a sweet photo of an innocent child. I cannot imagine how someone could possibly do this and I hope they all burn in hell.

What a sick world we live in.

Posted at 1:54PM on Oct 30th 2008 by anon

15. Three people were arrested in connection to the crime and another was arrested for tampering with evidence and failing to report a crime. The sex offender couldn't be 1,000 feet from a school or park, but thanks to a judge, we was allowed to live near the bus stop where the boy was abducted from.

Posted at 1:56PM on Oct 30th 2008 by ugh

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