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Dating a Banker Anonymous a Satirical Hoax, Times Admits
By
John Del Signore
Published Feb 25, 2009
Modified Feb 25, 2009
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By
John Del Signore
Published Feb 25, 2009
Modified Feb 25, 2009
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Remember how last month we all had fun hating that "support group" Dating a Banker Anonymous [DABA], created by and for materialistic ladies freaking out about their suddenly penurious boyfriends? And then, after a NY Times article about the women led to an immediate book deal for the DABA co-founders—swiftly followed by talk of a movie and TV deal—we all gagged on our own bile? Well, as previously suspected, the whole thing was just a satirical put-on—there never was any support group, just a blog—and the Paper of Record has just issued a mea culpa, almost four weeks after the article was originally published:
An article on Jan. 28 about women who commiserated over dating Wall Street bankers caught in the financial crisis described a group they had formed, Dating a Banker Anonymous, as a support group. That is the name of their blog. Its creators originally told The Times that about 30 women had participated, but since publication, they have said that all involved were friends. Laney Crowell, one of the women who started the blog, said in the article that it was “very tongue in cheek;” she has since described it as a satire that embellishes true experiences for effect. Had the nature of the blog been made clear at the outset, the article would have described it accordingly, not as a support group.
Not that it makes a difference to anyone rushing to cash in on the nation's lust for Schadenfreude; the DABA girls' new literary agent tells Newsweek, "It’s a humor book. That’s the category it would be." The continued interest is damn good news for Crowell; she was recently fired from her job at online fashion channel StyleCaster "because DABA-fever had become a distraction."
Tagged
blog
daba
dating
dating a banker anonymous
fake
girls
hoax
nyc
parody
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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