Rufus hannah11/6/2023 ![]() ![]() “I got to know them as human beings with a heart rather than bums or homeless people,” Soper said. Collecting cans is not easy work, let alone nasty, so I thought great, we’ll do it.” “All I wanted to do was make some money and get something to drink. “Alcohol was medicine for me,” said Hannah, 55. To appease Hawkins, he offered the pair the opportunity to build a fence at his complex, not really believing they would show up. To his surprise, Hawkins shook a finger at him and said, “Jesus wouldn’t like you. That all changed when Soper bragged to his 90-year-old neighbor, Orlando Hawkins, that he had chased away Hannah and his “canning” partner, Donnie Brennan. ![]() “I was a well-to-do La Jollan, I sat on boards and wrote checks,” Soper, 65, said in an interview, “but I’d never really touched the homeless.” The story has a happy ending, but the path between that first encounter and the relationship the two enjoy today was rocky, full of pain and unlikely, indeed. The memoir chronicles the bad breaks that led to Hannah’s descent into alcoholism and homelessness-failed marriages, a deadly hunting accident, an Army career derailed by an injury, a vocational training program abruptly ended-as well as Hannah’s involvement in the infamous “Bumfights” videos. Today Hannah manages that very apartment complex, and the two men are celebrating the publication of the book they have co-authored, “A Bum Deal: An Unlikely Journey From Hopeless to Humanitarian” (Sourcebooks). Soper recalls Hannah as the homeless bum who was digging around in the trash bin outside the apartment complex he owns, and Hannah remembers Soper as the jerk who interrupted his search for recyclables he could sell in order to buy beer. Mr Hannah now works with state and federal legislators to pass hate-crime legislation that would increase the penalties for those convicted of attacking the homeless - and hopes to one day to get his tattoo removed from his knuckles.Barry Soper (left) and Rufus Hannah collaborated on the story of Hannah's rise from homelessness, with Soper's help, in the book "A Bum Deal: An Unlikely Journey From Hopeless to Humanitarian."īarry Soper and Rufus Hannah didn’t get off to a very good start when they first met in 1999. Last year, 43 homeless people were killed in America, up from 27 the year before. He is worried that Bumfights contributed to the sick trend of homeless bashing, where people attack rough sleepers and film it. Mr Hannah, of Swainsboro, Georgia, became homeless and an alcoholic after being discharged from the army because of an injury. The producers also paid an "unspecified" amount in damages to the pair. The videos' makers were eventually convicted of several charges, including the soliciting of felonies, and they were sentenced to six months in prison. ![]() Mr Brennan was paid to have the word 'bumfight' tattooed across his forehead. Stunts Rufus performed for the videos included riding a shopping cart down a flight of stairs, ramming his head into steel doors so hard that he now suffers from epilepsy, and beating up his homeless best friend, army veteran Donnie Brennan, so badly that his leg was broken in two places. Homeless groups across America condemned the videos, and said they "disseminate hate against the homeless and dehumanise them." He said: "I always thought dying on the street would be my fate."īumfights was a US film series that showed homeless men fighting and attempting amateur stunts in exchange for money, alcohol and other incentives. He is also a campaigner for homeless rights. The father-of-five - who at the time was an alcoholic - was paid $5 to perform the degrading stunts, which including him getting a tattoo with the words 'bum fight' on his knuckles.īut since then he has transformed his life, having been sober for eight years, re-married and got a job working full-time as a property manager. Rufus Hannah, 55, became infamous in 2001 when a video of him riding in a shopping trolley down concrete steps, running head-first into walls and punching his best friend went global. Former ‘bum‘ is now employed and campaigns for homeless rightsĪ homeless man who starred in one of the first ever Bumfight videos has turned his life around and got off the streets. ![]()
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