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Yesterday, the Los Angeles restaurant world—nay, the entire world—was stunned by Derober.com's report that billionaire real estate developer/reality TV personality/premium-steak magnate Donald Trump, looking to reward the attentive service of a couple of pasta dishes and eclipse the onetime largesse of comparatively stingy superproducer Jerry Bruckheimer, left a $10,000 gratuity for a lucky Buffalo Club waiter, a move that briefly established the mogul as The Greatest and Most Generous Tipper in the World. Today, Trump went into full denial mode, telling Page Six that he's wasn't even in California on the day of the alleged tipping, and that he's the victim of a vicious hoax he believes was perpetrated by the attention-craving Santa Monica eatery:

"This was done by the stupid restaurant to get publicity," he said. ". . . It's not my signature."

We're inclined to take The Donald at his word, as it should be a fairly simple matter to prove his Monday night whereabouts should this matter not die with the public denial of these spurious accusations of excessive generosity. Still, for those who'd like to come to their own conclusions on this matter and either nurture the idea that Trump is modestly deflecting unwanted praise or confirm his victimhood, we offer the above signature comparison; somewhere between the "Donald J. Trump" embossed on his business card and the one allegedly scribbled (or Photoshopped) onto that Buffalo Club receipt surely lies the truth.

UPDATE: Derober comes clean on their hoax, which simultaneously taught old and new media alike a lesson about gullibility (we so wanted to believe!) while delivering new eyeballs for their recently launched gossip site.

[Image: Derober (receipt)/Gallery of History (business card)]