Fan Fare

Kanye West death hoax hits the Web

Kanye West is alive and well, despite an Internet hoax suggesting that the rap star died in a Los Angeles car crash on Tuesday.

A fake story was circulated via e-mail and on social networking websites saying that West was killed in a collision that left a second person injured, a third arrested for  manslaughter and a fourth person detained by police.

None of it was true. The rap star’s girlfriend, Amber Rose, posted a message on Twitter denying the story. “This ‘RIP Kanye West’ topic is not funny and it’s NOT TRUE!” she wrote, according to news website MTV.com. Her Twitter post has since been taken down.

By Wednesday afternoon, the Kanye death hoax was replaced on Twitter by the following popular wisecrack, repeated by several posters, “Whoever started the RIP Kanye West hoax, Imma let you finish, but Balloon Boy had the best hoax of all time!”

West, of course, interrupted singer Taylor Swift’s victory speech last month the MTV Video Music Awards with the words, “Yo Taylor, I’m really happy for you, I’ll let you finish, but Beyonce has one of the best videos of all time.”

West, who pulled out this month of a planned tour with singer Lady Gaga, isn’t the first celebrity to be the subject of a fake death report. But could it be the MTV incident that led the hoaxers to choose West as their target this time? If not,  why have the mystery hoaxers got it in for Kanye?

“Balloon Boy” and the drive for reality TV fame

Now that authorities say last week’s balloon boy incident was just a hoax, the public is getting re-acquainted with the underside of reality television. Richard and Mayumi Heene, parents of the 6 year-old boy thought to be trapped in a balloon before he was found in an attic, are expected to be charged this week with making up the whole scenario.

If what authorities are saying about the Heenes is true, they may have been hungering for fame, and saw the hoax as a great way to get a reality TV show. As everyone knows by know, the Heenes already starred in a past episode of the reality show “Wife Swap.”

Reality TV is littered with personalities who have cashed in on whatever public prominence they have gained to try and become a media star.

The latest is disgraced former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who is making a bid to star on Donald Trump’s reality show “Celebrity Apprentice.” Following his arrest last year on corruption charges, the much mocked Blagojevich became a reviled. But lack of popularity has never been much of a liability in the reality TV world, which relies heavily on villain-type personalities such as married provocateurs Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt.

Blagojevich’s wife, Patti, already had a role this year on the reality show “I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here!” on NBC. At least the Blagojeviches keep it all in the family.

And then there are the parents who make their children the focus of a reality show, such as Jon and Kate Gosselin (“Jon & Kate Plus Eight”) and Nadya “Octomom” Suleman (“Octomom: The Incredible Unseen Footage”).

Rod Blagojevich and shows like “Jon & Kate Plus Eight” have parallels to the possible “Balloon Boy” hoax. Just as Jon and Kate Gosselin put their children in the spotlight, the Heenes did the same with their 6 year-old son Falcon Heene. And just as the “Jon & Kate” show rolled on even after the couple announced in June that they were divorcing, the Heenes may try to capitalize on their newfound fame, even as they deal with their own nightmare — namely criminal charges.

Michael Jackson “alive” hoax video came from German TV station

German television station RTL has admitted to producing that video that emerged last month and appeared to show Michael Jackson alive and getting out of a Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office van, which spread quickly after it was posted on the Internet.

The station told U.S. news outlet CNN on Tuesday that the video was produced to show how easily rumors can spread online, such as the rumor that Jackson faked his death, used a coroner’s van as his private, incognito “taxi” service and then emerged in the bowels of a building, where he no doubt is hard at work cutting another album for later sale, Tupac-style.

Well, Jackson is definitely dead, in fact sadly his family will gather for his burial on Thursday in the Los Angeles suburb of Glendale. But until then, his fans can always pretend he is alive by watching this German production. The video is below. In the meantime, do Fan Fare readers believe the German station was acting in good faith by producing this video, and claiming it was all for the good of public experimentation?