9/11

""Is there room for BadBoy's sun drenched optimism in the post 9/11 world?''""

- Toronto Sun



9/11 refers to the September 11th terrorist attacks that killed over 3000 Americans in 2001. Among those who died were Rick DeSanto, playing the part of BadBoy, who was in Tower 1 shooting a promo when the plane hit. Later a rescue worker would find his signature flame shirt in the rubble, bringing the man to tears upon realizing who it belonged to. Rick DeSanto's death sent shockwaves through Canadian society, as thousands turned out in mourning, with the mayor of Toronto commenting:

""BadBoy's death is horribly tragic - we have lost so much. I was close friends with BadBoy, I worked on the show as executive producer - he was a good man. We have lost an icon for our era.""

- Melvin Lastman, Mayor of Toronto

The Ramifications
BadBoy's Choice was cancelled following the attack. MuchMusic executives came to this decision out of respect for Rick DeSanto and his family. At first replacements were considered as they had just hired a new batch of interns, but once the public learned of this the backlash was great enough that they soon dropped any new initiative to hire. An article was also written in the Toronto Star entitled '' "BadBoy" actor killed in terror attacks: is there room in our new world for the fun-loving carefree attitude he exemplified? ''