Meyer: The James Holmes “Joker” rumor – The Denver Post outs the fallacy and myth surrounding the Aurora, Colorado shooter, James Holmes. Writer Jeremy P. Meyer explains the myth started with a quote from
NYPD Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, who stated Holmes had called himself the Joker. This would be repeated by a number of news outlets including
ABC News and
The Washington Post. The
New York Times also reported “witnesses told the police that Mr. Holmes said something to the effect of ‘I am the Joker,’ according to a federal law enforcement official.”
However, the 18th Judicial District attorney George Brauchler, the man who prosecuted James Holmes definitively states, “It is not true.”
Brauchler would elaborate, “It is ridiculous. Completely unfounded. Some of this stuff. …It gets repeated by so many sources by people doing their research that it just becomes real.”
In fact Brauchler notes that The Dark Knight Rises just happened to be the film screening in the theater. He says, ‘If if had been ‘The Avengers,’ he would have been there. If it were ‘Jurassic World’, he would have been there. It had nothing to do that we can find with Batman.”
Meyer reports, “Investigators heard no witness talking about the Joker, he said. And no police officer claimed Holmes called himself the Joker.”
As for Holmes’ red hair he told a psychiatrist “red suggests bravery.” In fact, Holmes told a court-appointed psychiatrist, “They kind of turned me into a super villain. At least I’m remembered for doing something.”
Meyer reports, “Holmes later told a court-appointed psychiatrist he was surprised inmates were calling him the Joker.”
The Joker also has green hair and he’s had green hair since his first appearance in Batman #1 back in 1940.