Wozniak to appear alongside Daisey in special monologue performance

Yesterday, we reported that Mike Daisey, the man who accused Apple of ill-treating its factory workers through his one-man show, has invited media critics to watch a revised version of the monologue. Now, it has been revealed that Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak will be appearing alongside Daisey in a special performance of “The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs.”

Daisey’s accusations of employee mistreatment were reported in The New York Times, and were featured in a This American Life podcast, which was later retracted after some of Daisey’s claims were found to have been fabricated. Journalists came down hard on Daisey, but Wozniak came to his defence.

Now, Woolly Mammoth Theater Company, where Daisey’s show will be performed, has announced that Wozniak will be appearing in a special (and doubly expensive) performance of the monologue on 4 August, followed by a Q&A session.

When it was discovered that Daisey had exaggerated the claims made about factory visits in his original monologue, Wozniak told CNET: “I’m a presenter. I give 50 or 60 talks a year. I’m involved in community plays, musicals and ballets, a lot of performing arts… what actors do is to try to dramatise issues and events that are real. When you’re watching Stephen Colbert and The Daily Show not everything they say is factual but what they’re presenting is real. It’s a method of presentation that brings issues and ideas more to your awareness.”

Daisey’s accusations certainly did make people aware that there could be problems in Apple’s factories. The reports sparked Fair Labour Association investigations, and Apple CEO Tim Cook visited the Chinese Foxconn plants in person.

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