Post by NotMyKid on Oct 1, 2015 10:19:19 GMT -6
Joe Gillespie woke up at the bottom of a BB&T Ballpark stairwell with no idea how he got there. It was hours after an event he attended in the venue, and it didn't seem like the beginning of what would be one of his "top three nights of all time."
That is, until he began searching for a way out and came across the dressing room for Homer the Dragon, the Charlotte Knights' mascot. He spent the next five hours of that Sunday morning carousing around Uptown Charlotte as Homer, posing for pictures and getting free drinks wherever he tore up the dance floor. By Monday, Gillespie was in jail and the story, complete with a mullet in a mugshot, went viral shortly after.
That is, until he began searching for a way out and came across the dressing room for Homer the Dragon, the Charlotte Knights' mascot. He spent the next five hours of that Sunday morning carousing around Uptown Charlotte as Homer, posing for pictures and getting free drinks wherever he tore up the dance floor. By Monday, Gillespie was in jail and the story, complete with a mullet in a mugshot, went viral shortly after.
From the beginning, how is it that you became Homer the Dragon for a night?
Joe Gillespie: Me and my buddy, Mark (name has been changed to protect the possibly guilty-of-something), had VIP tickets to Charlotte Beerfest. We started at about 4 o'clock Saturday afternoon. We made it a full lap around the park in about an hour. Then an hour or two into it I was pretty hammered already.
I told Mark, "I have to run upstairs and get some food, because I'm drunk." I ran upstairs and ate barbecue and that was about the last thing I remember. The event ended at 9 p.m., but the next thing I remember I wake up at about 12:30 a.m. on Sunday and I'm at the bottom of a stairwell with no idea where I am. I called Mark, and he said, "Where the fuck are you?" I said, "Dude, I don't know. I think I'm still in the stadium."
He said he was at Hooters, so I told him to stay there. I start walking down the hallway to leave and I look to my right and see the mascot dressing room. I thought, there's no way this door is unlocked. I turned the handle and it opens right up and there's the damned costume.
So, I suited right up, walked out the door and proceeded to Hooters. I walked right up into Hooters and my buddy didn't even know it was me. I was ragin' dude.
I left Hooters and there was a big line at Tilt next door. I just said, "Yo man, can I go in?" The guy said, "No," and I was like, "Dude, You're not gonna let Homer the fuckin' mascot into your bar right now?" Then he said I could go in. There was nobody on the dance floor. I come sliding in and start getting it. I was doing all the moves you always wanted to try but are too embarrassed to.
[Joe continued around the city, taking parade-like laps around Uptown on a bicycle rickshaw, convincing a CMPD officer he was the real mascot working overtime at 3:30 a.m. and finally taking an Uber home in full costume at 5:30 a.m. after losing track of his friend.]
The police report said you also stole a two-way radio from the dressing room.
I got that in case they radioed that the suit was stolen so I could just chime them back and say, "Hey, I have it. Don't worry, I'll return it."
Read the whole interview, it's awesome-
clclt.com/charlotte/homers-night-on-the-town/Content?oid=3682852
