{{short description|American entertainer and sex offender (1932–2012)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2014}} {{Infobox person | name = Edarem | image = Edarem.jpg | caption = Edarem in 2009 | birth_name = Eduardo Joseph Vianney | birth_date = {{birth date|1932|09|27}} | birth_place = New York City, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|2012|01|8|1932|09|27}} | death_place = Lake Butler, Florida, U.S. | other_names = Edarem, Uncle Ed, Edmus Scarey | occupation = Entertainer | years_active = 1970<ref name=oldkc />–1986, 2006–2009 | known_for = YouTube videos }}
'''Edward Robert Muscare''' (born '''Eduardo Joseph Vianney'''; September 27, 1932<ref name=obit>{{Cite news|date=2012-01-11|title=Obituary: Edward Robert "Uncle Ed" Muscare|work=Kansas City Star|url=https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/kansascity/obituary.aspx?n=edward-robert-muscare-uncle-ed&pid=155422367|access-date=2020-07-23}}</ref>{{snd}}January 8, 2012), also known by his pseudonyms of '''Edarem''', '''Uncle Ed''', and '''Edmus Scarey''', was an American television presenter, entertainer, internet celebrity, and sex offender.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/kansascity/obituary.aspx?n=edward-robert-muscare-uncle-ed&pid=155422367 |title=EDWARD ROBERT "UNCLE ED" MUSCARE Obituary: View EDWARD MUSCARE's Obituary by Kansas City Star |publisher=Legacy.com |access-date=April 29, 2012}}</ref> He gained success online through his eccentric and comedic posts on YouTube, uploaded from 2006 through 2009.
Born into a working-class Sicilian immigrant family in Queens, New York, Muscare moved to Hialeah, Miami, as a teenager, before joining the United States Army. He became a presenter for local programming in Kansas City and Phoenix, but his career ended following an arrest for sexual battery in 1986. In 2006, he began posting videos of himself to YouTube, where he achieved widespread popularity. However, probation requirements relating to his 1987 conviction stipulated that he was forbidden to own a computer, and by doing so, he was put on trial in 2010, and sentenced to five years in prison for violation of probation. A campaign was organized by his friends and supporters claiming that his imprisonment was unjust, but he died before he could be released.
==Biography==
===Early life=== Muscare was born Eduardo Joseph Vianney in 1932 in Corona, Queens, New York City. His mother, Angelina (1896–1976) had been born in Caltanissetta, Sicily, and had married his father, Salvatore Vianney before the couple immigrated to New York in 1916.<ref name="Muscare 2009">{{cite web |url=http://phil-stevens.livejournal.com/815.html |title=Edarem's Biography |last=Muscare, Edward |date=June 30, 2009 |access-date=March 29, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110824092613/http://phil-stevens.livejournal.com/815.html |archive-date=August 24, 2011 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}</ref> Trying to earn a living in their new home, his father worked as a tailor while his mother worked as a seamstress.<ref name="Muscare 2009" /> Edward was the youngest of seven children (3 sons and 4 daughters), although shortly after his birth, his father left his mother to have a relationship with another woman.<ref name="Muscare 2009" /> He was raised nominally Roman Catholic, and underwent Holy Communion and Confirmation, but noted that his family rarely followed the moral teachings of the faith.<ref name="Muscare 2009" />
In 1945, the family moved to Florida, where he attended high school, particularly enjoying speech class, English class and the glee club. It was here that he got his first girlfriend and bought his first car, a 1929 Essex.<ref name="Muscare 2009" /> He was voted "Best Personality" in his school's 1951 Year Book. Upon graduation, he moved to New York for a while, where he worked in a dress factory, until returning to Florida.<ref name="Muscare 2009" /> After getting into trouble with the law, Muscare joined the United States Army in 1952. He was stationed in Fort Jackson, South Carolina and then West Germany, where he worked as a Morse code operator. In 1959, he married Ruth Carr in Nevada. They later separated. She died in 1961.
===Television work=== Muscare began his entertainment career in 1970 for KBMA-TV (later KSHB-TV) in Kansas City, Missouri, as host of the children's program ''41 Treehouse Lane'',<ref name=oldkc>{{Cite web|title=Vintage Kansas City Television and Radio Pictures - KBMA, KSHB|url=http://www.oldkc.com/images_media_kbma.php|access-date=2020-07-23|website=www.oldkc.com}}</ref> which he hosted until 1983. As a television presenter, he went by the stage name "Uncle Ed", and also hosted a late-night show (for which he wore a vampire costume) called ''Uncle Ed's All Night Live'' until 1984.<ref name="WFTV 2009">{{cite news|title=No Bond For Sex Offender Who Posted Bizarre Videos|url=http://www.wftv.com/news/21415561/detail.html |publisher=WFTV|date=October 26, 2009|access-date=March 29, 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100318122832/http://www.wftv.com/news/21415561/detail.html|archive-date=March 18, 2010|df=mdy-all}}</ref><ref name="Martinez 2010">{{cite news |title="Singing Sex Offender" Edward Muscare Jailed After Becoming YouTube Sensation |author=Martinez, Edecio |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/singing-sex-offender-edward-muscare-jailed-after-becoming-youtube-sensation/ |work=CBS News |date=January 5, 2010 |access-date=March 29, 2011}}</ref> The following year, Muscare, using the moniker "Edmus Scarey" (a play on his name's actual pronunciation), debuted on KNXV-TV in Phoenix as the host of ''Friday Night at the Frights'', a late-night program airing horror B-movies. He resigned abruptly one year later.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/65456107/|title='Edmus' arrested on sexual charges|page=A7|work=Arizona Republic|first=Bud|last=Wilkinson|date=October 16, 1986|access-date=December 16, 2020}}</ref>
===Arrest=== In 1986, Muscare had sexual contact with a 14-year-old boy.<ref name="WFTV 2009" /><ref name="Martinez 2010" /> His actions were reported to the police, and he was arrested shortly after leaving KNXV-TV. The following year, he was charged with sexual battery. He was sentenced to imprisonment for 18 months and placed on probation for ten years.<ref name="Muscare 2009" /><ref name="WFTV 2009" /><ref name="Martinez 2010" /> Muscare is not known to have reoffended, commenting that "I would never sexually offend again, but we can't help but sin. We're all human beings".<ref name="Martinez 2010" /><ref name="WKMG 2010">{{cite news |title='Singing Sex Offender': I'm An Entertainer |url=http://www.clickorlando.com/news/22118775/detail.html# |publisher=WKMG |location=Orlando |date=January 4, 2010 |access-date=March 29, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111006004822/http://www.clickorlando.com/news/22118775/detail.html |archive-date=October 6, 2011 |df=mdy-all }}</ref>
===YouTube fame=== In 2006, he created an account on YouTube, using the pseudonym Edarem,<ref>{{YouTube|user=edarem|title=Edarem}}</ref> and posted 130 videos of himself online, featuring him undertaking "strange antics" and lipsynching to songs such as Roy Orbison's "Oh, Pretty Woman".<ref name="WFTV 2009" /> The uploaded videos became popular with viewers around the world, receiving hundreds of thousands of views, and turning Muscare into an "internet sensation".<ref name="WFTV 2010">{{cite news |title=Sex Offender Who Posted Bizarre Videos Heads To Jail |url=http://www.wftv.com/news/22163478/detail.html |publisher=WFTV |date=January 6, 2010 |access-date=March 29, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100315124523/http://www.wftv.com/news/22163478/detail.html |archive-date=March 15, 2010 |df=mdy-all }}</ref>
In 2007, Muscare moved out of his home in Florida, claiming he had suffered harassment from neighbors who had learned he was on the sex offenders' registry. He relocated to Orangeburg, South Carolina where, although he was legally required to inform the local authorities about his status as a former sex offender, he neglected to do so,<ref name="Muscare 2009" /><ref name="WFTV 2009" /><ref name="WFTV 2010" /> fearing that he would be persecuted by angry neighbors if they found out about his criminal past.<ref name="Martinez 2010" /> He then appeared on a television show in Orlando, in which he argued for sex offenders being given a second chance in society, and also stated that he refused to inform the local authorities about his former crime as he feared for his safety.<ref name="Dickjonas 2010">{{cite news |title=Ever Heard of Uncle Ed? |author=Dickjonas |url=http://www.starzlife.com/20100309/ever-hear-of-uncle-ed/ |publisher=StarzLife |date=March 9, 2010 |access-date=March 29, 2011}}</ref> Upon seeing this show, South Carolina police learned that he had moved into their state, and issued a warrant for his arrest.<ref name="Martinez 2010" /><ref name="Dickjonas 2010" /> Officers came to his house on May 1, 2009, where they confiscated his alcohol and computer, using the justification that under South Carolina law anyone with a previous conviction for sex offences is forbidden from owning either of these.<ref name="Muscare 2009" /> He agreed to allow his computer to be inspected without notice, and it was found to contain no illegal material.<ref name="WFTV 2009" /><ref name="WFTV 2010" /> Rather than being sent to prison for not informing the authorities about his earlier conviction, he was placed on five-year probation, one of the conditions for which was that he was forbidden from owning a computer without permission.<ref name="WFTV 2010" />
No longer able to upload videos through his computer, Muscare instead got a friend to continue posting his videos on YouTube, believing that this would be permitted under the rules of his probation order.<ref name="WFTV 2009" /> Nonetheless, prosecutors still saw this as a breach of his probation, and he was taken to court in Orlando, where he told Lake Circuit Judge Mark Hill<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2009/10/24/fans-cry-freedom-for-jailed-youtube-video-star/|title=Fans cry freedom for jailed YouTube video 'star'|newspaper=tribunedigital-orlandosentinel|access-date=2017-01-13}}</ref> that "I'm frankly bewildered that I'm here; I don't think I've done anything wrong".<ref name="WFTV 2010" /> He argued that he was not a threat to society, and was simply "an entertainer, and I've entertained all my life", with his videos simply being "done in fun and I'm sure that most of the people see it that way."<ref name="Martinez 2010" /><ref name="WKMG 2010" /> Judge Hill did not, however, accept Muscare's defense, and on January 6, 2010, sentenced him to five years in prison for violating his probation order.<ref name="WFTV 2009" />
Fans of Muscare's YouTube videos posted messages of support on the site, many criticizing Lake Circuit Judge Mark Hill's decision as unfair.<ref name="WFTV 2009" /><ref name="Martinez 2010" /> His neighbor also claimed that Muscare's imprisonment was unjust, describing him to reporters as "a helpful, warm, loving, kind, friendly neighbor who's always there when you need him".<ref name="WFTV 2009" /> In late 2010, Edarem's YouTube page began being updated regularly by his partner, Marion.
==Death== In October 2011, Muscare's partner Marion announced that she had found a tumor in his neck and he was later diagnosed with lung cancer. The doctor had given him three months to live.<ref>{{cite web|title=Update on Ed| website=YouTube | date=October 3, 2011 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKn0pDcjXBY}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Statement from Ed| website=YouTube | date=October 20, 2011 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtR_Svdgxkw}}</ref> On the evening of January 9, 2012, she announced both on her Facebook page<ref>{{cite web|title=Marion Muscare - Facebook|website=Facebook |url=https://www.facebook.com/marion.muscare/posts/322548851101872}}</ref> as well as in a video uploaded to his YouTube account<ref>{{cite web|title=Edward Muscare Sept 27, 1932 - January 8, 2012| website=YouTube | date=January 9, 2012 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dzz9phptQPw}}</ref> that Muscare had died the previous night in jail.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Vaughn |first1=Jason M. |title=Former KC TV Host "Uncle Ed" Muscare Dead at 79 |url=https://fox4kc.com/news/former-kc-tv-host-uncle-ed-muscare-dead-at-79/ |website=Fox 4 KC |date=January 10, 2012 |access-date=26 September 2023}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
===Bibliography=== {{refbegin}} * {{cite web |url=http://www.cracked.com/article_18792_the-7-most-unintentionally-creepy-places-internet.html |title=The 7 Most Unintentionally Creepy Places on the Internet |author1=Coffin, Nick |author2=James, Derek |date=October 26, 2010 |access-date=March 29, 2011}} *{{cite web |url=https://www.facebook.com/marion.muscare |title=Marion Muscare's facebook page |last=Muscare, Marion |website=Facebook |date= January 9, 2012 |access-date=January 10, 2012}} * {{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dzz9phptQPw |title=edarem ejvmev – Edward Muscare Sept 27, 1932 – January 8, 2012 |last=Muscare, Marion |website=YouTube |date= January 9, 2012 |access-date=January 10, 2012 |ref=EdRIPvideo}} {{refend}}
Category:1932 births Category:2012 deaths Category:20th-century American criminals Category:21st-century American criminals Category:American male criminals Category:American people of Italian descent Category:American people who died in prison custody Category:American television hosts Category:Criminals from New York City Category:Deaths from lung cancer in Florida Category:Horror hosts Category:Prisoners who died in Florida detention Category:United States Army soldiers Category:YouTubers from Queens, New York Category:American sex offenders