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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: hoax

hoax stories: 45 news summaries

21 - 40 of 45 Stories | << Prev 1 2 3 Next >>

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Joaquin Pounces on Heckler
at Rap 'Concert'

Another stunt?

Mar 12, 09 4:00 AM CDT
(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... More »

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rapper • hoax • Joaquin Phoenix • Casey Affleck • Borat • actor

 Get a Tan 
 Via Computer? 
 30K Believed It 

Website vowed to deliver tanning rays through computer screen

Feb 6, 09 1:26 PM CST
(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... More »

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United Kingdom • skin cancer • tanning • hoax

 Phoenix 
 Denies 
 Hip-Hop 
 Is Hoax 

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

Feb 4, 09 3:08 AM CST
(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... More »

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celebrity • hip-hop • rapper • rap music • hoax • Joaquin Phoenix • actor • acting career

(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... More »

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publicity stunt • Illinois • engagement • hoax • Drew Peterson • Christina Raines • fiancee • sham

(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... More »

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celebrity • rapper • rap music • hoax • Joaquin Phoenix • Casey Affleck • actor • acting • acting career

 Phoenix 
 'Breakdown' 
 More Like 
 a Put-On 

Phoenix' rap career might just be a show

Jan 28, 09 10:06 AM CST
(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,... More »

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celebrity • rapper • rap music • hoax • Joaquin Phoenix • Casey Affleck • actor • acting • acting career

'Cello Scrotum' Exposed as Medical Hoax

Spoof inflammatory condition had fooled experts for 34 years

Jan 28, 09 2:20 AM CST
(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... More »

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cello • instrument • musician • hoax • British Medical Journal

Thieves Return Madoff Statue, Lesson Attached

Note suggests 'swindler' return his plunder, too

Jan 1, 09 2:53 PM CST
(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... More »

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Wall Street • capitalism • Ponzi scheme • hoax • art heist • financial crisis • Bernard Madoff

(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... More »

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YouTube • hacker • celebrity • Hannah Montana • Miley Cyrus • hoax • cybercrime • Mandy Jiroux

McCain 'Insider' Who Leaked Palin Dirt a Fake

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

Nov 13, 08 9:43 AM CST
(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... More »

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MSNBC • hoax • Internet hoax • Sarah Palin • Martin Eisenstadt • cable news

Critic's Hoax Makes Spectator Turn Red

Wine magazine
honors 'excellence' of imaginary restaurant

Aug 22, 08 2:25 PM CDT
(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 ... More »

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advertising • wine • magazine • restaurant • hoax

  How a
  Forger Fooled
  Vermeer-Lovers 

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

Jul 13, 08 12:23 PM CDT
(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... More »

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crime • art • painting • artist • hoax • forgery • Jan Vermeer

Sixth Foot to Wash Ashore
Is a Hoax 

Prankster in Canada put animal paw
in running shoe

Jun 19, 08 6:04 PM CDT
(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... More »

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Canada • British Columbia • hoax • missing person • coroner • severed feet • RCMP

 Fake Airline Has
 Philly Giggling 

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

Jun 6, 08 7:44 PM CDT
(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... More »

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newspaper • weight • Philadelphia • airline • advertisements • hoax

 Regrown Finger Called 'Absurd' 

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

May 1, 08 7:36 PM CDT
(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,”... More »

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plastic surgery • medical research • pig • hoax • junk science • severed finger • quackery

Polygamist Tip-Off Traced to Hoaxer's Phone

Woman has history
of making fake calls
to abuse hotlines

Apr 24, 08 7:02 AM CDT
(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... More »

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child abuse • polygamy • hoax • Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints • Yearning for Zion ranch

'Abortion Art'
a Hoax,
Yale Says

Student maintains that she impregnated herself over and over

Apr 18, 08 11:00 AM CDT
(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... More »

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abortion • Yale University • art • hoax • Yale • Aliza Shvarts

Story Linking Diddy to Tupac Shooting a Hoax

'FBI reports' lead back to longtime con man, says Smoking Gun 

Mar 26, 08 2:13 PM CDT
(Newser) - The Los Angeles Times was duped into reporting that associates of Sean “Diddy” Combs were involved in the 1994 shooting of rapper Tupac Shakur, the Smoking Gun reports. The paper based last week's story on FBI reports fabricated by a long-time con man who has long sought to insinuate... More »

MORE ABOUT:
fraud • Diddy • Los Angeles Times • hip-hop • hoax • Tupac Shakur • James Sabatino • Suge Knight • East Coast-West Coast rap feud

Paparazzi Punk Plan Doesn't Scare Mags

Editors rip Kutcher's turn-the-tables show as 'conceited celebrity'

Mar 26, 08 1:12 PM CDT
(Newser) - Avril Lavigne with a baby bump. Paris Hilton out with a monk. Ashton Kutcher's plans to punk gossip rags by teaming up with celebrity friends to serve fake news stories doesn't have many editors shaking in their boots, the New York Daily News reports. “A fake belly doesn’t... More »

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reality TV • Paris Hilton • magazine • paparazzi • celebrity • Ashton Kutcher • hoax • Avril Lavigne • Pop Fiction

NEW RELEASE

No Hoax Here: Prankster's Bio One to Watch

Abel Raises Cain chronicles 'America's greatest living hoaxer'

Mar 5, 08 3:52 PM CST
(Newser) - Satirist Alan Abel has spent decades laughing at Americans who fell for hoaxes such as his "euthanasia cruises" and a school for training beggars. Abel Raises Cain, a documentary made by his daughter now out on DVD, is a "hysterical look at a gifted comic," even if... More »

MORE ABOUT:
film • documentary • hoax • Alan Abel • hoaxer • Jenny Abel • Society for Indecency to Naked Animals • Jeff Hockett • Buck Henry • Walter Cronkite

21 - 40 of 45 Stories | << Prev 1 2 3 Next >>


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