Topic: hoaxes

Manti Te’o Hoaxer Ronaiah Tuiasosopo Tells Dr. Phil He’s In Love With Manti, Possibly Gay Love

Manti Te'o Hoaxer Ronaiah Tuiasosopo Tells Dr. Phil He's In Love With Manti, Possibly Gay Love

What would you do if you’d just been unmasked as the internet creeper behind a fake girlfriend hoax involving a famous football player? I would probably have booked my ticket to Brazil by now to live out the rest of my days on a beach where nobody knows me. Manti Te’o hoaxer Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, however, decided it would be a better investment in his future to show his face on television in a tell-all interview with Dr. Phil. Maybe he couldn’t afford a real therapist? More »

Every Hoax Ever Needs A Drink(ing Game)

Every Hoax Ever Needs A Drink(ing Game)

So remember a little while ago when the Fox News ticker got hacked? Well, guess what? It’s a hoax. Just like everything else. It turns out the news ticker stunt was pulled by MoveOn.org to launch their new “Rebuild the Dream” campaign, which is being fronted by Van Jones, the guy who was thrown out of the Obama administration for his extremist views. What’s really remarkable is the lengths to which MoveOn.org went to convince people the hack was real– everything from building the identity of the hacker months in advance to posting a “how I did it” video in response to accusations that the hack was fake. But fake it was, and you know what? I think it could use a drink. And so could every other hoax ever. Don’t you? More »

A Brief History of Literary Hoaxes

A Brief History of Literary Hoaxes

Author and activist Greg Mortenson, whose acclaimed book Three Cups of Tea has been a perennial bestseller, recently admitted that the story was “more of a fairy tale.” In the book, Mortenson chronicled his experiences as a mountain climber, and tells of how he was injured during a climb in Pakistan. He was taken in by local villagers and, when he recovered, he vowed to build girls’ schools in the country as a thank-you. Sadly, Mortenson is not the only author to pass off fiction as fact. More »

Internet Urban Legend: How the Whole “Faking Cancer on the Internet” Thing Started

Internet Urban Legend: How the Whole "Faking Cancer on the Internet" Thing Started

Last week, Reddit users were enraged to discover that a poster known as Lucidending had lied about having cancer. In the forum’s AMA (Ask Me Anything) forum, Lucidending claimed to have only 51 hours to live; he planned to overdose via Oregon’s laws of assisted suicide. What followed was a weekend of intimate conversation in which Lucidending played by the AMA rules and shared details about his life, in the hopes of leaving some sort of legacy. Some people even donated money to charities in Lucidending’s name. More »

Fake Chris Harrison Twitter Entertains Us, Dupes Jake Pavelka

Fake Chris Harrison Twitter Entertains Us, Dupes Jake Pavelka

Chris Harrison, who still believes that The Bachelor can produce long-lasting love, is – in dead seriousness – the best thing about the ABC franchise. Chris is not only a puppet of producers – forced to play dumb on things like, “Frank Neuschaefer has a secret girlfriend – whaaaa?” – but he is also a calming force of sanity within a manse full of sociopaths. He seems to sincerely care about each and every contestant, even as he secretly collabs with the show to stir the pot. See: Bachelor Pad! With that said, here’s a gift from the Twitter gods: Chris Harrison has a tweeter-impersonator who managed to trick ex-Bachelor Jake Pavelka into thinking the Fake Chris Harrison feed was REAL. More »

Elyse Porterfield, aka ‘Jenny DryErase,’ Is Now Internet Famous

Elyse Porterfield, aka 'Jenny DryErase,' Is Now Internet Famous

Internet memes can make you Internet famous overnight – just ask Jenny Dry Erase, the charismatic subject of a hoax created by the website TheChive. And now, Jenny has revealed her true identity: Her real name is Elyse Porterfield and she is a 22-year-old aspiring actress. She is also really cool. Lemondrop snagged an interview with Elyse, who says she “had no idea that it was going to become this big.” She also describes her best “telling-someone-off story,” which entails punching someone in the face. More »