Artie Lange retracts Wilmington drug-buy story: ‘I never bought heroin in Delaware’

Since around 2008, comedian Artie Lange has maintained that he regularly bought heroin from a dealer in Wilmington, Delaware, for a four-month period in 2005.

But, as it turns out, that story is simply not true. Artie did buy heroin back then — just not in the First State.

Lange today recounted his oft-told tale of his time engaged in Wilmington's heroin trade, revealing to Delaware Online that he had never done so "in my life."

"I'll give you an exclusive," Lange told The News Journal's Ryan Cormier today. "I never bought heroin in Delaware in my life. I was afraid to say where I really got it. I was dealing with some dangerous people."

At the time, in 2005, Lange was a member of the Howard Stern Show, and his erratic behavior due to his heroin use was a constant strain on his participation on-air.

"People who listen to it don't realize how close it came to Howard coming on the air one day and saying, 'We don't know where Artie is,' " he said of his addiction back in 2008, when the Wilmington heroin story first surfaced.

Lange also reiterated that he first met his heroin dealer at a 2004 show at Wilmington's long-defunct Kahunaville but clarified that that person was not a resident of the state. Now, though, Lange has no contact with him.

"Thank God I haven't talked to him in a long time," he said.

Despite Lange long having lied about purchasing drugs in Wilmington, though, he maintains that many of the elements present in those stories were true — including doing "a few lines before driving home" after he obtained the drug.

"People made such a big deal of me getting it in Delaware, but I just picked a place," he told Delaware Online. "I wasn't bad-mouthing Delaware — they sell heroin everywhere."

Lange will return to Delaware this Saturday for a stand-up show at The Grand Opera House. Tickets run $35 to $55, and are available now.

[Delaware Online]