A Statement Regarding Recent Comments by Bob Dolfi

by Derek McGovern

On May 1, 2005, a person masquerading as Bob Dolfi posted a message on the Jeff Rense Lanza forum stating that Damon Lanza, son of Mario Lanza, had been critically injured in a car crash. I was first alerted to this by my friend Muriel Agnello, who was quite distressed by the news. My immediate reaction, however, was one of scepticism, since it seemed improbable that the real Bob Dolfi would post such a shocking announcement on the Rense forum, rather than on his own site. It turned out that my hunch was right.

However, the relief that I felt quickly turned to disgust when Bob Dolfi posted this message on his Lanza Legend site regarding the supposed perpetrator of the hoax:

This coward is from another site which we can all guess which one. It is not Jeff's site. His IP starts with 60.246 etc but because he has dial-up, I am unable to catch the rest so far. However, as Jeff pointed out on his site, there are times we must clean our toilet, so please do not respond to this reprobate. The more we ignore his kind, the faster he will go away to his secret site. I will do my best to delete his posts, all the time wishing I could delete him personally.

Now, it doesn't take a genius to infer that the “secret site” Bob Dolfi is alluding to here is the forum linked to these very pages. Not that there is anything actually secret about it – this is simply Mr. Dolfi's crude attempt to conjure up notions of plotting conspirators and other unsavoury characters. In fact, as Mr. Dolfi is well aware, anyone who so desires may join our Yahoo Lanza forum; all we ask is that people post in good faith, good will, and good humour. Indeed, the only reason that it remains a members-only forum is that this discourages the use of pseudonyms – a practice that both Lindsay Perigo and I detest.

Mr. Dolfi also claims to detest pseudonyms, but the evidence suggests otherwise. I need hardly remind him of such creations as "Gloria B", "Eddie", and "Berni", not to mention impersonations of me on both the Rense and SOLO forums. Then again, his private words have often been at odds with his public utterances, as anyone who has ever received one of his obscene e-mails can attest. This is a man who privately acknowledges, for example, that Mario Lanza had a drinking problem, but will publicly insist – as he did in his recent book, Through a Mother’s Eyes – that there is no proof of such a thing. Any soul brave enough to disagree with him is swiftly condemned as a liar. And once a person falls from grace in his eyes, there is no going back. In 2003 I wrote an essay for his site on the film Serenade – an article that Mr. Dolfi described as “a treasure” and which he later selected as the cover feature for one of his newsletters. And yet, no sooner had I been denounced on The Lanza Legend (for defending the integrity of biographer Armando Cesari) than the same essay was being damned by him as “atrocious.” From then on, I was “the fag from Korea” and the subject of endless snide attacks, all the while denied the right to defend myself on his forum.

Well, Mr. Dolfi, you are not going to deny me that right here. To hell with your endless utterances of “We know who you are.” If you truly believe that I or Lindsay Perigo – or indeed anyone associated with the Lanza Yahoo forum – perpetrated that disgusting hoax, then say so now. Come on – back up your cowardly innuendo with hard evidence. And while you’re at it, kindly prove a single instance in which I have attacked people on any site while hiding behind a pseudonym. For as Lindsay Perigo rightly observes, “No one on this forum swims around in the murk of insinuation and character assassination. We leave that to the experts.”

Let me spell it out again for you one more time. Neither I nor anyone associated with me wrote that egregious post about Damon Lanza.

Derek McGovern
2 May, 2005

Postscript: Shortly after writing the above, I read the following post by Mr. Jeff Rense on his own site:

I am going to leave the psychopath's message about Damon up so there is no confusion ... Bob has addressed the issue clearly. The fake 'Bob Dolfi' post comes from an IP of: 60.246.253.124.[...] We know who these people are. Same old psychopaths with probable dementia. Incidentally, as some of you may know, I authored a major book about HIV/AIDS which was first published in 1990...the result of 3 years of research. One of the facts known even then was that homosexual males who become infected with HIV show measurable mental and psychological dementia within a matter of weeks. This sad fact explains some of the incredibly violent, sick, erratic, nearly incoherent behavior of some infected gay men. Stir in some SSRI anti-depressants and alcohol, and defamation, libel and ugliness can be a quick and predictable result.

Frankly, I don’t know who is the more nauseating: the lowlife who posted the hoax about Damon Lanza, or the homophobic author of the above message. Mr. Rense: To suggest that homosexuals were behind this hoax simply because you have an irrational dislike of them is despicable enough. But to imply that because they are homosexual, they must therefore be HIV-Positive and suffering from dementia is a vile slander. And yet you're not actually brave enough to name names, are you? Instead you hide behind your pathetic Dolfi-inspired mantra: "We know who these people are." Well, I for one do not know. Enlighten us, or go back into your homophobic little hole.