Site Revels in 'Breathtaking' Response to Jackson Hoax Video

By PopEater / Wire Services Posted Sep 2nd 2009 10:47AM

A hoax video purportedly showing Michael Jackson emerging from a coroner's van was an experiment aimed at showing how quickly misinformation and conspiracy theories can race across the Internet, German broadcaster RTL said Tuesday. The video was posted on YouTube for a single day a week ago and received 880,000 hits.

"We wanted to show how easily users can be manipulated on the Internet with hoax videos," spokeswoman Heike Schultz of Cologne-based RTL told The Associated Press. "Therefore, we created this video of Michael Jackson being alive, even though everybody knows by now that he is dead - and the response was breathtaking." Haven't seen it? Watch after the jump.

Jackson died June 25 in Los Angeles.

The video - posted under an "anonymous source" - shows a coroner's van entering what seems like a parking garage and the King of Pop getting out of the back with another person. The lighting is bad, the sound muffled and the footage appears amateurish.

"Unfortunately, many people believed it was true," Schultz said. "Even though we tried to create the video in a way that every normal user can see right away that it is a fake."

She said the video was shot near Cologne - "definitely not in the U.S." The van in the video had the word "CORONER" printed in English, suggesting it had been recorded in America.

RTL admitted to the hoax in an Aug. 26 report on its daily news show Explosiv.

Hoaxes and rumors commonly spread like wildfire on the Internet. Videos of flying saucers and impossible stunts routinely are among the most-viewed on video-sharing sites, though purported evidence of the deceased being alive is less common than false rumors of someone's death.

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Hoax Headlines

The Story: Rebeccah Beushausen wrote on a blog about being an unmarried mother who chose to carry a child with a fatal chromosomal disorder to term because of her deep Christian faith. The Truth: One of her followers recognized a photo of the baby as a doll, exposing her lies. Beushausen apologized in a blog post.

David Pierini, Chicago Tribune / MCT

Hoaxes in the News

David Pierini, Chicago Tribune / MCT

The Story: Undercover police arrested two brothers for dealing cocaine at a New York night club. The officers claimed Maximo Colon, left, and his brother Jose sold two bags of cocaine to them. | The Truth: The brothers proved their innocence -- and laid the groundwork for a multimillion dollar lawsuit -- with a video from the club's security cameras.

Henny Ray Abrams, AP

The Story: Bonnie Sweeten made frantic calls to 911, saying she and her daughter, 9, had been abducted by two black men and stuffed in the trunk of a car in Pennsylvania. | The Truth: The two were found May 27 at Walt Disney World in Florida.

Matt Rourke, AP

The Story: Ireland's Shane Fitzgerald posted a quote that he attributed to Maurice Jarre on the French composer's Wikipedia page hours after Jarre's March 28 death. Many media outlets used the quote as Jarre's. | The Truth: The quote was a fake, posted as a test of accuracy and accountability standards. Wikipedia itself twice removed the quote as wrong.

Fionn Kidney, AP

The Story: The Associated Press reported Feb. 7 that Jennifer Figge had made history by becoming the the first woman to swim across the Atlantic from Africa to Trinidad. | The Truth: Figge's spokesman estimated that she swam about 250 miles of the 2,100-mile journey, otherwise resting on a catamaran. Figge said that she never intended to swim the entire way.

The Story: Kevin Hart held a press conference Feb. 6 at Fernley High School in Nevada announcing that he had received Division I football scholarship from University of California at Berkeley. | The Truth: The offensive guard eventually admitted that he'd made the whole thing up, saying a small lie had snowballed. He apologized to "my family, coaches, Fernley High School, the involved universities and reporters covering the story."

Tim Dunn, RGJ

The Story: The group Survival International released this photo May 29, 2008, of what they called an "uncontacted" tribe that lives in Brazil near the Peruvian border. Some media outlets ran the story that the tribe was newly discovered. | The Truth: Although the tribe did not have any contact with the outside world, it was discovered in the early 1900s. Survival International said it never called the tribe newly discovered.

Gleison Miranda, Funai / AP

The rise of Twitter and its real-time microblogging has quickened the pace. American actor Patrick Swayze, who is battling pancreatic cancer, had to declare that he is still alive this year after thousands of Twitter users spread news that he was dead. Actor Jeff Goldblum had to do the same.

The RTL spokeswoman said some Jackson fans were upset by the German broadcaster's actions.

"We didn't want to dishonor Michael Jackson, but we needed a strong name to get this experiment going," Schultz said. "Had we used Britney Spears, then the fans of Britney would have complained."

2009 AOL LLC. All Rights Reserved. Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. Active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.

Tags: conspiracy, hoax, michael jackson, MichaelJackson

Comments

(89)

Wednesday 02 September

By Karen

Highest Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

I have to agree with you, how could anyone believe that was MJ in that video? That is ridiculous. It is even more farfetched that someone would actually do something like that. Let him rest in peace already.

Friday 04 September

By Tims

Vote down Vote up Report this

I don't think anyone really believed it. It was just for fun! It's not misinformation if everyone knows the truth (which seemed to be what the article implied). It's one big joke!

By Sammie

No one comments on this stupid Popeater site due to all the spamming.. why cant' you clean this up?

By Dirty Diana

Who ever RTL is?? just goes to prove how much we cannot believe anything any of these tabloid people say!!As Michael Jackson always said;Don't believe anything you see or hear;because it's just not true[any of it]one of Michaels songs is about so many problems in this world that we need to focus on soooooo-----STOP TRIPPING ON ME!!!!!Not that I wouldn't love him still being alive;But I am not that gullable.....DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME AND PAPER ON SUCH GARBAGE??In our hearts Michael is forever..ALIVE

By Lita

I didn't look at the video. I didn't have to to know that there are far too many people who are stupid enough to believe anything they see on the Internet. But before the Internet, there were people who believed trumped-up photos that believed in tabloids. Whatever happened to a healthy amount of skepticism, without being synical? I fear we are becoming more and more stupid.

By sherry

i saw the video of the corner's van and the video was clear as a bell and if anyone being his fan woud know that it was michael jackson think about the media always picked on michael if it was me i sould get sick and tired of them picking on me and i think michael would do this to get away from the media and make sure his kids are safe he was a great person and father.

By denise

I think you are saying MJ did this to escape the media for him and his children. But his children are out in the public now, for the first times in their lives. And everyone does have to die eventually. But, the thought did cross my mind that the vid is real, and the creator was paid off to say it was actually a hoax or something. But seriously, who cares? MJ doesnt care if Im alive or dead really.

By rely on mee

Sherry, your an idiot. How could anybody really think mj waz alive. Im a fan and i know that he is dead and gone forever.
R.I.P.

Monday 07 September

By cynthia

I am a fan of Michael Jackson's but even I knew that video was a phony. I never even looked at it, because I knew that people would start claiming he is alive just like they do with Elvis still. So people who believed that video, I don't know what to say to yall accept move on with your life and that Michael was not the center of the universe.

By Some Jackson

Sierra, how dare you say you hope he's burning in hell!!

All the crap he did here on Earth? What he did here on Earth was become the MOST CHARITABLE POP STAR in the HISTORY of POP STARS! Half of the things he did for people... well, in fact, the MAJORITY of things he did for people, YOU NEVER HEARD ABOUT! He supported so many charities it's not funny! And not for the publicity, but out of the goodness of his heart!

Burn in hell? The man was damn near a saint! You judge based on things YOU HEARD! When you're WRONG! You don't know ANYTHING about Michael Jackson except the bull the media has fed you! Until you know the true story, YOU NEED TO SHUT YOUR TRAP!

I love you, Michael, and always will.

By Desire

THANK YOU..HOW CAN PEOPLE NOT SEE EVERYTHING HE DID FOR US? HE WAS THE MOST GENEROUS PERSON EVER! AND EVEN WHEN PEOPLE PUT HIM DOWN,HE REMAINED THE SAME SWEET AND CARING PERSON,AND I BELIEVE THAT HE NEVER HURT A CHILD,HE WAS AN ANGEL PUT ON THIS EARTH.MAY HE REST IN PEACE,I LOVE U MICHAEL

By sharlene

I REALLY DON'T UNDERSTAND PEOPLE OF IGNORANCE AND IT'S NOT FUNNY OR AMUSING I JUST KNOW THAT THERE IS A HIGHER POWER AND WE ALL HAVE OUR DATE AND TIME FOR ALL WHAT WE ACCOMPLISHED IN LIFE AND IF YOU HAVEN'T LEARN LIFE LESSONS THEN ONLY YOU HAVE TO ANSWER TO THAT MAY MICHAEL JACKSON REST IN PEACE

Tuesday 08 September

By j

be careful what you say, only God can judge

By Cliff

I know that this video is a fake. It is fake because I saw Micheal Jackson at LA. Fitness here in Miami. He was lifting weights with Biggie Smalls, Elvis, and Tupac. And there trainer was Bigfoot! Let me tell ya Micheal Jackson is strong he bench pressed 300lbs. Don't let his size fool you!!

Thursday 03 September

By coolbreeze

be careful dad, you're headed to ths same placs.

i see the meth finally got to you.

By DINAH

CALL ME CRAZY I
SEEN THE VIDEO I DO BELIVE THATIS MICHEALJACKSON
HE JUST WANTED PEOPLE TO LEAVE HIM ALONE SO HE CAN LIVE THE REST OF HIS LIFE IN PEACE

By Susan

Michael wasn't left alone while he was alive, why can't he be left alone in Death. Not classy at all.

By cmattie

If it were him he would had been more aware of his surroundings, he always looked @ camera's even in his hiding his face he always let you get some kind of a shot. This was some obvious bull. LET THE MAN REST

By Brianna

In that video that can be some other person.Or a person trying to act this out to get some attention.Dont belive the videos that keep saying hes alive the evidence is all lies.and people who r rude nd dnt care bout him dont commented here just keep it to urself..Like at the end of the song will you be there. Michael says some stuffnd one thing he said was i'll never let u apart for ur always in my heart goodbye michael i cry everynite cuz i miss you sooo much

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