hoax

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'Mancow' Waterboarding May Have Been a Hoax

(Newser) - Erich “Mancow” Muller’s on-air waterboarding was a hoax, an anonymous tipster tells Gawker, forwarding a seemingly damning e-mail exchange between the shock jock’s publicist and a veterans group she was hoping could find a torturer. “It is going to have to look ‘real,’”...

Obit Editors Fall for Fake Wikipedia Quote

Papers printed Maurice Jarre gem, but he didn't say it; Irish student did

(Newser) - An Irish college student managed to prank the world media in an attempt to illustrate lax fact-checking in today’s 24-hour news cycle, the AP reports. When French composer Maurice Jarre died March 28, Shane Fitzgerald fabricated a delicious quote and put it on the Jarre Wikipedia page. The citizen...

Joaquin a 'Crazy Person With a Beard': Director

Gray echoes comments from last month

(Newser) - If Joaquin Phoenix’s transition to rapping is a hoax “then it’s the most elaborate thing that I have ever seen,” Two Lovers director James Gray tells the Times of London, citing the actor’s in-home recording studio and constant claims of being “tired” on-set as...

Joaquin Pounces on Heckler at Rap 'Concert'

Another stunt?

(Newser) - Security guards hauled off neo-rapper Joaquin Phoenix early this morning after he leaped from the stage during a Miami Beach concert to confront a heckler, reports AP. The increasingly bizarre actor appeared in a disheveled suit to mutter mostly unintelligible lyrics after appearing four hours late to the concert. Suddenly...

Get a Tan Via Computer? 30K Believed It

Website vowed to deliver tanning rays through computer screen

(Newser) - Tired of dawdling in front of a computer screen all day while your skin retains that dried-out winter look? Well now you can get a tan right from your computer screen—or so thousands of Britons thought. A UK charity developed the ComputerTan website hoax to raise awareness about skin...

Phoenix Denies Hip-Hop Is Hoax

Actor-turned-rapper says he has made his last film

(Newser) - Actor Joaquin Phoenix insists he really has quit Hollywood for hip-hop,  AP reports. He’s made his last movie and is busy recording rap tracks in his home studio, said the star. Rumors that the career change was actually an elaborate practical joke swirled after video emerged of Phoenix...

Peterson Ex: Engagement Was a 'Stunt'

(Newser) - Drew Peterson’s purported ex-fiancée said today that their marital plan was "more like a stunt,” the Huffington Post reports. Christina Raines confirmed that they dated, but said the engagement was cooked up by Peterson's lawyer, who “had wanted him to be in the media and...

Joaquin's Rap Dream Is Real: Rep

(Newser) - Joaquin Phoenix really is a struggling rap artist, a rep tells MTV. “The transition from one career to another is never seamless,” the actor’s publicist says. “He intends on exploring his musical interests despite speculative, negative, or positive reactions.” The statement is in direct contrast...

Phoenix 'Breakdown' More Like a Put-On

Phoenix' rap career might just be a show

(Newser) - Joaquin Phoenix's transformation from Oscar-nominated actor to bumbling rapper may be a prank meant to satirize media coverage of pompous actors, Entertainment Weekly reports. “He said, ‘It's a put-on. I'm going to pretend to have a meltdown and change careers, and Casey [Affleck] is going to film it,...

'Cello Scrotum' Exposed as Medical Hoax

Spoof inflammatory condition had fooled experts for 34 years

(Newser) - The world's cellists can rest easy today knowing the dreaded "cello scrotum" is a myth, the Independent reports. A doctor who's a member of Britain's House of Lords has confessed that she invented the condition described in a letter to the British Medical Journal as a spoof. It has...

Thieves Return Madoff Statue, Lesson Attached

Note suggests 'swindler' return his plunder, too

(Newser) - The thieves who nabbed a $10,000 copper statue from fraudster Bernard Madoff's swank Florida home have returned it, along with this note: "Bernie the Swindler, Lesson: Return stolen property to rightful owners." The advice was penned by "The Educators," whose inspiration may be a German...

Miley Cyrus Is Alive and Well

(Newser) - Miley Cyrus is alive, and a report of her death was the work of a hacker, E! Online reports. A video claiming Cyrus had been killed by a drunk driver went up on the teen sensation's own YouTube page over the weekend, using her new single “Goodbye” as background...

McCain 'Insider' Who Leaked Palin Dirt a Fake

Tale of would-be VP not knowing Africa's a continent fooled media

(Newser) - MSNBC thought it had a scoop: On Monday, it identified "Martin Eisenstadt, a McCain policy adviser" as the man who claimed Sarah Palin didn't know Africa was a continent. Only trouble? Martin Eisenstadt doesn't exist—he's a character in an elaborate, months-long hoax that has taken in news...

Critic's Hoax Makes Spectator Turn Red

Wine magazine honors 'excellence' of imaginary restaurant

(Newser) - Wine Spectator bestowed one of its awards of excellence on the Milan restaurant Osteria L'Intrepido. Problem being, the restaurant doesn't exist. A mischievous wine critic made it up, along with its wine list—which featured wines panned by the magazine—then forked over the $250 application fee, the Los Angeles ...

How a Forger Fooled Vermeer-Lovers

20th-century painter made millions and tricked a powerful Nazi

(Newser) - Johannes Vermeer created only a few dozen paintings in his lifetime, while other major 17th-century artists cranked out 10 times that. That helped a mediocre Dutch painter  create convincing forgeries in the 20th century, NPR reports in a look at a new book on one of art's great hoaxes and...

Sixth Foot to Wash Ashore Is a Hoax

Prankster in Canada put animal paw in running shoe

(Newser) - The latest severed foot to wash ashore in Canada is a hoax, the Toronto Globe and Mail reports. The sneaker found this week near Vancouver actually contained an animal paw stuffed into a sock, authorities say. An official described the prank as “reprehensible and very disrespectful to the families...

Fake Airline Has Philly Giggling

'Derrie-Air' vowed to charge passengers by the pound

(Newser) - An ad for "Derrie-Air" airlines made Philadelphia readers the butt of a publicity joke today, the AP reports. The owner of two newspapers and an ad agency revealed that the airline—which claimed to charge passengers by weight, and be carbon-neutral—was cooked up to prove the power of...

Regrown Finger Called 'Absurd'
 Regrown Finger Called 'Absurd' 
May 1, 2008 7:36 PM CDT

Regrown Finger Called 'Absurd'

Scientist blast man's claim that pig-bladder 'pixie dust' restored digit

(Newser) - A UK plastic surgeon repudiated claims by an American company that a powder made from a pig’s bladder spurred regrowth of a man’s severed fingertip, the Guardian reports. Stories circulated this week of Lee Spievack’s “miraculous” recovery thanks to what he called “pixie dust,”...

Polygamist Tip-Off Traced to Hoaxer's Phone

Woman has history of making fake calls to abuse hotlines

(Newser) - Some of the dramatic calls thought to be from an abused teen that sparked a raid on a Texas polygamist ranch have been traced to a cell phone number previously used by a well-known hoaxer, the Denver Post reports. Court documents reveal that the 33-year-old woman has a history of...

'Abortion Art' a Hoax, Yale Says
'Abortion Art'
a Hoax,
Yale Says
Apr 18, 2008 11:00 AM CDT

'Abortion Art' a Hoax, Yale Says

Student maintains that she impregnated herself over and over

(Newser) - When Yale art student Aliza Shvarts said she’d impregnated herself “as often as possible,” aborted all the results, and intended to display the resulting menstrual blood, people got a bit upset. Students gathered in protest as the story blazed across a disgusted blogosphere. One problem: It was...

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