PITTSBURGH — The man who founded an Atlanta-based prank phone call web site said the small fraction of people who don't get the joke are the reason his jury duty prank call is creating headlines and headaches for Pennsylvania court officials.
Jeff Goldblatt said his www.humorhotlines.com jury duty gag has attracted 2.8 million callers. The callers are threatened with a fine and jail for missing jury duty then told at the end it's a prank.
The Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts on Thursday sent out an alert to citizens and officials who oversee the courts and jury duty in 67 counties to advise them of the prank.
Some court administrators, like Peter Morin in Mercer County, said they're getting calls from people who are alarmed by the online prank because they haven't listened to the entire call.
It includes this message near the end, "Rather than a $500 fine or a 30-day prison sentence you may instead choose to pay it forward and simply pass this phone number onto your top 10 most gullible friends ..."
Goldblatt said the small fraction of callers who don't get the joke are apparently the ones calling county jury commissioners and court administrators in recent weeks, either angry or confused by the prank.