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)

Thursday 03 September

By Don Fry-Bybee

Vote down Vote up Report this

I clicked on the website for the michael jackson video of him coming out of a coroner van...well u reported that video being seen by 880,000....i clicked and on youtube.com said it was ONLY viewed by 8,761 viewers..so who is right??????

By PD

This so stupid. It's like their trying to recreate another whole Elvis thing. How long was it rumored that Elvis never died & was still alive. Now history is trying to repeat itself with Michael's death. This was one incredible man who truly cared about humanity. All should listen to & remember the words of one his songs, "heal the world, make it a better place, for you and for me and the entire human race...make a better place for you and for me...make it a better world". So, let's focus more on making this a better world & just maybe if we all pull together "we can make the change". RIP MICHAEL!!!

By Tony D.

When are they going to plant this FREAK? Enough already he's dead he was an entertainer nothing more. Then he turned into a FREAK. Put him in the ground and go on with your pathetic lives.

By Shellfish789

JUST PLAIN CRAZY......

By jordan

Dude who thinks we are "dumb dumbs" is absolutely retarded~ Why would the police and DA and hospital be in on any hoax? What benifit could a goverment employed police officer, along with the coroners and doctors have in conspiring this way. You are suggesting they all got paid off? The money would have to be huge--Madeoff couldn't do it and he had tons of liquid assets! Micheal J. had debt and the money he had was invested- BE REAL!

By Shawn

I saw him at the mall with Elvis just yesterday.

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Friday 11 September

By ann

y would anybody in their right mind set up something like that in the first place? First of all how old r u, because that was very childish. If the man is dead let him rest. It's bad enough that a lot of bad lies has been said about this Man when he was alive. So if u post something like that what would anybody expect... that he is or maybe faking his death because of all the accusations ect... two words: grow up

Monday 14 September

By maria copelli

SIMPLY PUT THEREARE SO MANY DISCREPENCIES,AND THIS IS WHY ,SOMEFEL,THERE IS SOMETHING AMISS.SUCH AS DR.MURRAYS LACK OF RESPONSE AND C.P.R.TECHNIQUES.WHY DID HE WIAT SOOO LONG TO CALL911?HE IS BELIEVD TO HAVE BEEN DEAD FOR MANY HOURS!!!WHY????????WHY DIDNT HE SIGN THE DEATH CERTIFICATE?WHERE DID HE GO TO FOR 3 DAYS?WHY DIDNT HE ANSWER THE JACKSONS QUESTIONSAT THE HOSPITAL?WHY ALL THE MYSTERY?AND HOW COULD HE NOT HAVE KNOWN ,HIS PRESCRIPTION NEEDS ,KNOWING HE HAD LUPUS ALSO ,WHICH CAN BE VERY PAINFUL?!I FEEL WE ALL WANT TO BE TOLD THE TRUTH ,AND BECAUSE WE LOVE MICHAEL FOR THE HUMAN BEING THAT HE WAS,WE SEEK THE TRUTH ,AND NOT FROM INSIDE EDITION ,OR THE ENQUIRER ,OR STAR MAG.OR FROM SO CALLED JOURNALIST ,WHO SEEK EVEN IN DEATH TO HURT HIM OVER AND OVER AGAIN!!!!!!LIKE AN INJURED BIRD WHO CONTINUES TO GET PELTED ,AND STONED OVER AND OVER AGAIN!!!!!JONELL STAR IS JUST GETTING US TO MAYBE THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX.YES HE IS DEAD ,AND YES WE ARE SAD FOR HIM AND HIS FAMILY,BUT WE MISS THS MAN THE HUMAN NOT THE ICON.HE WAS PROFESSIONAL GODFEARING HUMBLE AND KIND AND GENEROUS....WHY CANT THE WORLD TALK ABOUT HIS GENEROSITY ,HIS LOVE FOR ALL PEOPLE AND HOW HE TRIED TO HELP AS MANY AS HE COULD.NO DOUBT HE WAS AWONDERFUL DADDY .AND YES I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW THE TRUTH BEHIND THIS TRAGIC DEATH.THANK YOU FOR READING THIS .

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