hoaxes

NPR Emails Show CEO Refusing Donation from 'Muslim' Group

TPM · 03/11/11 12:51AM

Responding to a report that NPR was closer to accepting a $5 million donation from a phony Muslim group than previously acknowledged, NPR released e-mails to TPM backing up their claim that they had refused the money.

Lying Videographer Claims Another Hidden-Camera Scalp

John Cook · 03/08/11 12:30PM

Confessed trespasser and hidden-camera operator James O'Keefe, has released a new deceptively edited video that shockingly documents the fact that at least one NPR executive who has absolutely no newsgathering role is a mainline liberal and refuses to accept money from shadowy Muslim organizations. Let the word go forth that today, March 8, 2011, is the day America was forced to face up to the fact that some NPR executives are liberal elitists.

Talk Radio Is Fake Now

John Cook · 03/07/11 03:02PM

Premiere Radio Networks, the radio syndicator that brings you Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, knows better than anyone that its audience consists almost exclusively of mouth-breathing illiterates. That can make talk radio, which theoretically relies on the ability of listeners to dial a telephone and speak coherently, something of a challenge. No worries though, because now there's Premiere On Call, a service whereby, in exchange for money, a paid voice actor will call your radio show and pretend not to be stupid.

Someone Took a Photo of the Loch Ness Monster's Cousin

Max Read · 02/21/11 12:09AM

A British I.T. guy named Tom Pickles snapped a mysterious cell phone picture of what could possibly be some kind of monstrous water creature in England's Lake Windermere. "Is this England's answer to the Loch Ness monster?" English tabloid The Sun wonders. But a lake ecologist speaking with The Daily Telegraph, on the other hand, suggests that it may be "a catfish from Eastern Europe," which, we suppose, would be make it Eastern Europe's answer to the Loch Ness monster. (We note that Pickles found the creature while on a team-building exercise with his company, making his encounter with "bow-nessie" the only interesting or worthwhile thing that has ever happened on a team-building exercise.)

This Baby-Swinging Yoga Video Can't Be Real, Right?

Maureen O'Connor · 01/06/11 01:53PM

The following video shows a Russian lady subjecting a squirming baby to "dynamic exercises" that involve swinging it by its arms and ankles, upside down and over her head. Oddly, there is precedent: Russian swinging baby videos are a meme.

Horrific Acid Attack Was a Hoax

Adrian Chen · 09/16/10 06:56PM

Remember Bethany Storro, the 28-year-old woman who claimed a woman threw a cup of acid in her face after asking if she wanted a drink? It was a hoax: Her injuries were self-inflicted. Um, guess she got what she deserved?

The Quitting Tale That Suckered the Whole Internet

Ryan Tate · 08/10/10 06:14PM

Photos of an aspiring broker purportedly telling off her boss garnered widespread news coverage and more than 105,000 Facebook "likes" Tuesday. Too bad the story was published by two guys who have pranked the media before.

Runaway Bride Is Dead Broke

Maureen O'Connor · 06/22/10 11:14AM

Jennifer Wilbanks—who in 2005 ditched her wedding, blamed an imaginary Hispanic rapist for her cold feet, and unsuccessfully tried to sue her ex for talking about her—is unemployed and knee-deep in credit card debt.