Edward Muscare , also known by his pseudonyms of
Edarem and
Uncle Ed, was an American television presenter and
internet celebrity died he was 79..
[1] He gained success in the latter field through his eccentric and comedic posts on the website
YouTube, uploaded from 2006 through to 2009.
(September 27, 1932 – January 8, 2012)
Born into a working-class Sicilian immigrant family in Queens, New
York, Muscare moved to Hialeah, Miami, as a teenager, before joining the
army. He became a presenter for local programming in
Kansas City,
but his career ended following a conviction for sexual battery in 1987.
In 2006, he began posting videos of himself to Youtube, where he
achieved widespread popularity. However, probation requirements relating
to his 1987 conviction stipulated that he was forbidden to own a
computer, and by doing so, he was put on trial in 2010, and sentenced to
five years in prison. A campaign was organized by his friends and
supporters claiming that his imprisonment was unjust, but he died prior
to being released.
Early life
Muscare was born in 1932 in
Queens,
New York. His mother had been born in 1896 in
Caltanisetta,
Sicily, and had married his father before the couple emigrated to New York in 1916.
[2] Trying to earn a living in their new home, his father worked as a tailor whilst his mother worked as a seamstress.
[2]
Edward was the youngest of seven children, although shortly after his
birth, his father left his mother to have a relationship with another
woman.
[2] He was raised nominally
Roman Catholic, and underwent
Holy Communion and
Confirmation, but noted that his family rarely followed the moral teachings of the faith.
[2]
In 1945, the family moved to
Florida, where he attended high school, particularly enjoying Speech class, English class and the
Glee club. It was here that he got his first girlfriend and bought his first car, a 1929
Essex.
[2]
He was voted "Best Personality" in his school's 1951 Year Book. Upon
graduation, he moved to New York for a while, where he worked in a dress
factory, until returning to Florida.
[2] After getting into trouble with the law, Muscare joined the
United States Army. He was stationed in
Fort Jackson,
South Carolina and then West Germany, where he worked as a
Morse code operator.
[2]
As a television presenter in
Kansas City during the 1970s, he went by the stage name "Uncle Ed", and hosted both a late night show (for which he wore a
vampire costume), and a children's program.
[3][4]
In 1986, Muscare had sexual contact with a 14 year old male. His
actions were reported to the police, and the following year he was
charged with
sexual battery. He was sentenced to imprisonment for 18 months and placed on probation for ten years.
[2][3][4]
Muscare never reoffended, commenting that "I would never sexually
offend again, but we can't help but sin. We're all human beings".
[4][5]
YouTube fame
In 2006, he created
an account on the popular web site
Youtube,
using the pseudonym Edarem, and posted 130 videos of himself online,
featuring him undertaking "strange antics" and lipsynching to songs such
as
Roy Orbison's "
Oh, Pretty Woman".
[3]
The uploaded videos became popular with viewers around the world,
receiving hundreds of thousands of views, and turning Muscare into an
"internet sensation".
[6]
In 2007, Muscare moved out of his home in Florida, claiming he had
suffered harassment from neighbors who had learned he was on the sex
offenders' registry. He relocated in
South Carolina
where, although he was legally required to inform the local authorities
about his status as a former sex offender, he neglected to do so,
[2][3][6] fearing that he would be persecuted by angry neighbors if they found out about his criminal past.
[4]
He then appeared on a television show in Orlando, in which he argued
for sex offenders being given a second chance in society, and also
stated that he refused to inform the local authorities about his former
crime as he feared for his safety.
[7] Upon seeing this show, South Carolina police learned that he had moved into their state, and issued a warrant for his arrest.
[4][7]
Officers came to his house on May 1, 2009, where they confiscated his
alcohol and computer, using the justification that under South Carolina
law anyone with a previous conviction for sex offences is forbidden from
owning either of these.
[2] He agreed to allow his computer to be inspected without notice, and it was found to contain no illegal material.
[3][6] Rather than being sent to prison for not informing the authorities about his earlier conviction, he was placed on five-year
probation, one of the conditions for which was that he was forbidden from owning a computer without permission.
[6]
No longer able to upload videos through his computer, Muscare instead
got a friend to continue posting his videos on Youtube, believing that
this would be permitted under the rules of his probation order.
[3]
Nonetheless, prosecutors still saw this as a breach of his probation,
and he was taken to court in Orlando, where he told the judge that "I'm
frankly bewildered that I'm here, I don't think I've done anything
wrong".
[6]
He argued that he was not a threat to society, and was simply "an
entertainer, and I've entertained all my life", with his videos simply
being "done in fun and I'm sure that most of the people see it that
way."
[4][5]
The judge did not, however, accept Muscare's defense, and on January 6,
2010 sentenced him to five years in prison for violating his probation
order.
[3]
Fans of Muscare's Youtube videos posted messages of support on the site, many criticizing the judge's decision as unfair.
[3][4]
His neighbor also claimed that Muscare's imprisonment was unjust,
describing him to reporters as "a helpful, warm, loving, kind, friendly
neighbor who's always there when you need him".
[3] In late 2010, Edarem's YouTube page began being updated regularly by his partner, Marion.
Death
On the evening of Monday January 9, 2012, Muscare's partner Marion announced both on her Facebook page
[8] as well as in a video uploaded to his Youtube account
[9] that he had died the previous night.
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