Rick DeSanto

Rick "Ricky" DeSanto was an American actor. He was the sixth and final person to portray BadBoy for MuchMusic. DeSanto was killed in the 9/11 attacks in New York City while filming a promo on the observation deck of Tower 1, leading to the cancellation of the show.

Biography
Richard Perry DeSanto was born August 9, 1978 in Columbus, Ohio. At the age of 7, his parents enrolled him with a child acting agency and he spent most of his childhood performing small parts in television commercials airing on local channels in Ohio and upstate New York. As he grew older, DeSanto continued to do odd jobs acting on television until his agency put him in touch with the MuchMusic channel on the other side of the Canadian border. After the debacle with Armando Ferraro, BadBoy’s Choice had been put on hold for retooling, and executives were looking for an American to fill the position so they could try to export the new and improved character to the United States as well. DeSanto agreed to submit a videotape of him talking in a patois accent for ten minutes, and when MuchMusic executives loved it he accepted the job despite never having heard of the character before. DeSanto’s portrayal of BadBoy is considered average at best by most fans, and he was a lower-energy presence than most of the actors who had played him before. “I hate to say it,” said actor Calvin Sutherland, who played several recurring characters on the show (including CoolJesus) “but I never really had a conversation with Ricky outside of work. He was just a shy, withdrawn guy who kept to himself mostly.”  BadBoy’s haircut was controversially changed as well, with the removal of the frosted tips in favour of a more slick-backed style.

Death
DeSanto is best-remembered today for the tragedy that struck on the show’s infamous World Trade Center episode. A promo for the new American version of the show was being filmed early in the morning of Sept 11, 2001, on the observation deck of 1 World Trade Center. Halfway through filming, at 8:46 AM Eastern Time, American Airlines Flight 11 was crashed into the building by Islamic terrorists; DeSanto, the entire crew and studio audience were killed. There was some speculation as to whether DeSanto jumped from the tower or not; an infamous photo taken on that day called “The Falling Man” may or may not depict him. A famous photograph of a Canadian rescue worker pulling a flame shirt from the rubble on Sept 18, tears streaming down his cheeks, ran in the Toronto Sun several days afterwards. 9/11 has been referred to as “the day the music died” by BadBoy fans ever since.

In the aftermath of the tragedy, MuchMusic executives cancelled the show, both out of respect for DeSanto and also because there was no place for BadBoy’s fun-loving, carefree demeanour in the new world that we now inhabited.