Balloon Boy Incident a Media Hoax?

The Heene family has never been afraid of the spotlight and are no strangers to reality television. Aside from chasing down storms, they have starred in the reality TV show Wifeswap. The Heene family is also known for experimenting with a series of unusual inventions including hovercraft, a weather-gathering flying saucer and a rocket launcher. The three young Heene boys are also featured in a rap music video on YouTube.

Richard Henne repeated the denial in a live interview Friday morning with the TODAY show. In the TODAY exclusive, the Heene family talked to Meredith Vieira about the drama that transfixed the nation: Their 6-year-old son, Falcon, was believed to be in a runaway balloon, but was found safe in his family's attic.

The story, however, is a bit conflicted when 6 year old Falcon Heene spoke up during an interview with CNN yesterday. During the interview, Falcon said he had heard his family calling his name.

"You did?" the boy's mother, Mayumi Heene, said.

"Why didn't you come out?" Richard Heene said.

Falcon answered, "You had said that we did this for a show."

That was a very telling answer, even if it was from a 6 year old. Most adults have time to craft an answer but young children typically speak from the heart. If they are nervous about revealing something, they typically shy away from an answer.

During a taped ABC interview on Friday morning, Faclon Heene said: "Mom, I feel like I'm going to vomit." He then left the room with his mother.

During a live interview on NBC shown simultaneously, Falcon threw up into a container when his father was answering the same question.

Father, Richard Heene, seemed uncomfortable when the family was asked on the TODAY show to clarify and said he didn't know what his son meant. He didn't ask his son what he meant by "a show."

"I'm kind of appalled after all the feelings that I went through, up and down, that you guys are trying to suggest something else," Richard Heene said.

Richard Heene said he called the Federal Aviation Administration first before calling 911. There are some who say that 911 should have been alerted first and most people do not have the FAA phone number handy. Using 911 is a gut reaction in an emergency.

If this was a hoax, it's a very sad way to get media attention. The countless hours and manpower put into the efforts to first save a boy who was thought to be floating in a homemade balloon was both a huge expense and an emotional situation. Then there was the time spent searching for Falcon Heene when it was discovered he wasn't in the helium balloon that more than likely couldn't have supported the weight of a cat in a 10,000 foot high flight.

For now, Colorado authorities are not treating the balloon boy incident as a hoax. However, there will be an investigation into the events and hopefully there will be some closure and solid answers if the Heene family balloon incident was indeed a media hoax.

See CNN's Wolf Blitzer's interview with the Heene family HERE.

Written by Cheryl Phillips
Exclusive to HULIQ.com

sources: ABC news, TODAY show, MSNBC