infoMania | February 19, 2009 | Comment on this video (32)

Leave the 13-year-old Dad Alone

infoMania
The British news media is obsessed with the story of a very young-looking 13-year-old boy named Alfie Patten who had a baby this week with his 15-year-old girlfriend. But is it really news? Brett Erlich offers his opinion in this week's infoMania Editorial.

infoMania is a half-hour satirical news show that airs on Current TV. The show puts a comedic spin on the 24-hour chaos and information overload brought about by the constant bombardment of the media. Hosted by Conor Knighton and co-starring Brett Erlich, Sarah Haskins, Ben Hoffman, and Sergio Cilli, the show airs on Thursdays at 10 pm Eastern and Pacific Times and can be found online at current.com/infomania. And make sure to check out our facebook profile for special features at http://infomaniafacebook.com.
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    infoMania Starring, alexward Producer, alexward Editor, more
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32 comments // Leave the 13-year-old Dad Alone // Video

  • Desigol1979
    • 0
      Desigol1979  

    • England is more Celeb-Obsessed than America.

      Everything the Media targets is aimed at Twentysomething Women who were brought up on a staple diet of Soaps, Reality TV and US Shows such as Friends.

    • 2 years ago
  • miss_niss
    • 0
      miss_niss  

    • Ah teen pregnancy. Although this is only just edging into the "teen" category.

      Its one of those things that just happens, its not society crumbling, its just bored kids. Having grown up in the city with the highest teen pregnacy rate in australia i don't think its a coincidence that there's fuck all to do there. pun intended.

    • 2 years ago
  • NathanConvey
    • 0
      NathanConvey  

    • If he looked older the tabloids wouldn't have blinked. It's just that he looks so ridiculously young that it's startling. However these days the British tabloids know that the only way to sell papers is to whip up a baying mob.

    • 2 years ago
  • tiktaky
  • Mobius2012
    • 0
      Mobius2012  

    • It's a diversion, I'm sure there's probably a bill being passed in parliament that the British Gov' wants no one to take notice of......

    • 2 years ago
  • scarlettcutie_01
    • 0
      scarlettcutie_01  

    • This is sad, but not news. When 8 year old girls are legally getting married, prostitution is legal, and human trafficing continues this is just another issue that is not new to the world. People give the children some space...at least they are not alone in raising it and have parents backing them.

    • 2 years ago
  • jonbrooks
  • PROYECTOarismuca
  • This_Is_Not_My_Name
  • charfman
  • nazbags
    • 0
      nazbags  

    • This whole story reminds me of a Jack Handey quote:

      "I believe in making the world safe for our children, but not our
      children's children, because I don't think children should be having sex."

    • 2 years ago
  • DanDude92
    • 0
      DanDude92  

    • people need to let the kid be, ive hered of 12 year old pregnant women and im sure similar stories and worse go around hospitals everywhere, atleat the girl was a "half" responsible age i mean come on people it could be worse...

      i hate the idea or teenage, or youth pregnancy, im only 16 myself and know that people do stuipid things but its not asif the 13 year old kid forced sex onto the girl i mean thats the stuff people should be worried about right. so whats the big deal?

      children everywhere deal with rape, pedophiles, underage sex, unprotected sex, yet only the 13 year old kid gets in the news paper and is completely defiled, atleast he is looking after his child, people need to have some decentcy...

    • 2 years ago
  • gwdexter
    • 0
      gwdexter  
    • Image

    • This whole story was a hoax all along. (About as real as your typical episode of Maury.) It never particularly rang true -- what could the mom have seen in HIM? -- but when it became clear how much money the Sun had forked over for the exclusive story, its believability became approximately nil.

      I liked the editorial though! More of these please!

    • 2 years ago
  • crazy_french
    • 0
      crazy_french  

    • Lmfao.... bad ass way to leave some information.. really amazing idea. but its ALL TRUE so thats also awesome. couldn't aggreeeeee maor. bad ass!

    • 2 years ago
  • Vierotchka
  • Future_America
  • oracleruby
  • Melk
  • alexward
  • nemomarlin
  • el_chivo
    • 0
      el_chivo  
    • nemomarlin:

      More than you think. I see this kind of news quite often. They don’t have kids in an early age because...well, they can! Except for that peruvian girl, but that’s like an x-file.

    • 2 years ago
  • Brett_Erlich
    • 0
      Brett_Erlich  
    • nemomarlin:

      13 year old kids DO have babies. The only reason this story is getting press is because in the now infamous "kid playing playstation with the baby in his lap" photo, this particular 13 year old looks like he's 8.

    • 2 years ago
  • AnnieMole
    • 0
      AnnieMole  

    • You do worry when Max Clifford is Alfie's publicist - as I've said before - the parents would have been better off keeping this quiet and not getting lured by potential pound signs.

      And as smurph says above even Channel 4 aren't going to make a documentary about the family over concerns of paying them for it.

      BTW Brett check out Trisha Goddard she's like our version of Maury Povich :-)

    • 2 years ago
  • mattbrawn
    • 0
      mattbrawn  
    • Image

    • The newspaper it first appeared in, The Sun, did pretty well from running the story; it was their most popular online article. Ever.

      Pretty big spike on the 16th Feb...

    • 2 years ago
  • quixotic12
  • notawannabebutme
  • dirtyemowords
  • mattbrawn
  • Mr_Costello
    • 0
      Mr_Costello  

    • I often feel doomed in our British-tabloidic-climate, the realisation that there's nothing in life that can't be sold as a commodity to the media by Max Clifford.

      Teenage pregnancy, cancer, death: wherever there's a fee for the protagonist and extra sales for the tabloid, there's a way.I just don't know what's real, what's a PR stunt and what's a scam.

      Brett dude, that top you're wearing absolutes rocks.

    • 2 years ago
  • smurph25
    • 0
      smurph25  

    • Glad your pod about the 13-year-old father and the British media was spot on Brett, so much so, Channel 4 (terrestrial channel here in the UK) says they won't make a documentary about it (the link above might explain why).

    • 2 years ago
  • m_daura
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