‘I wish I could separate my unethical behavior from the conversation about the complexity of truth in fiction.”
So says Mike Daisey, the author and star of the one-man show, “The Agony and Ecstasy of Steve Jobs.” For months earlier this year, he told rapt Public Theater audiences of unethical, exploitative and even fatal practices at Apple factories in China — only to acknowledge that he had made up a bunch of his more serious claims.
Now he’s back at it. He’s taken his show of lies to a place where people are even more than willing to believe the worst about corporate America — Washington, DC. And the seats are filling up.
Daisey had told New York audiences during his two-hour monologue that he went to visit a Foxconn plant in China, where he found workers as young as 12, a man disfigured by a metal press and one who suffered nerve damage as a result of hexane gas being used in the manufacture of Apple products.
After the public radio program “This American Life” broadcast excerpts from his show, the producers asked if they could follow up with the interpreter he used in China. He claimed he couldn’t find her anymore.
Then a reporter for the radio show “Marketplace” tracked her down — and found that Daisey’s stories didn’t check out.
“This American Life” engaged in an episode-long exercise in self-flagellation, and most of the media agreed that Daisey had committed a cardinal sin. From Gawker to CNN, journalists let Mike Daisey have it.
So how has he wound up back in business? Well, you know, the whole “complexity of truth in fiction” thing.
His new show skips the proven-untrue elements, and includes cracks warning the audience not to take his work literally — e.g., after he refers to Steve Jobs’ head exploding, he says, “That’s hyperbole.”
And it’s earning critical acclaim. The New York Times calls it “if anything, more powerful, funny and engaging than the earlier production.” The Baltimore Sun finds it “a tour de force.”
How does Daisey get away with this? He’s certainly not contrite. He defended himself by saying that “The Agony” was a play, not a news report. But he sure tried to pass it off as the latter — not only lying to the radio producers about his translator, but also telling reporters who asked that, yes, he’d actually seen the things he said he had.
Daisey said his goal was to create a “human connection” and draw attention to Apple’s practices abroad. And sure enough, he did.
Perhaps the most bizarre part of Daisey’s second run in Washington will take place this Saturday, when Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak will join the star for a “post-performance dialogue.” In the tradition of guilt-ridden businessmen, Wozniak has defended Daisey, explaining that not everything entertainers say “is factual, but what they’re presenting is real.”
Even after all the coverage of his fabrications, audiences are happy to forgive Mike Daisey. It’s not, I suspect, because he’s a great artist, but because they like his message about corporate America’s exploitative behavior. It gives them the warm fuzzies to go to shows that tell them how evil American businesses are — even the ones they patronize.
As Wozniak said, “His show gets people feeling good and they tell themselves ‘I want to be a good person, is there any way I can help?’ ”
Why not go see “Rent” instead? You can still stick it to the man, and enjoy a few good dance numbers, too.
Naomi Schaefer Riley writes frequently on religion, education and culture.