All Viral Videos Are Fakes Made by Jimmy Kimmel

Turns out there wasn’t really a wolf outside U.S. Olympian Kate Hansen’s door in Sochi this week. It was yet another Jimmy Kimmel “viral video” prank.

Last fall, as you might recall, Kimmel revealed that he had staged a flaming twerking girl clip that everyone shared, and reported on, and shared some more.

And when he announced that he had duped media outlets big and small, said media outlets reacted by shrugging and playing the clip of him revealing the fact that they had been duped. Because content.

Same routine here. The only twist is that the prank was slightly deflated by … Inside Edition (?), and perhaps other outlets, who got in touch with a press officer from the U.S. luge team (they have a press officer!), who debunked the whole thing before the official reveal. Because luging is not funny.

Here’s the original:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qZA-xOeQmE

Here’s the full version of that clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOaVn5z3MuM&src_vid=hze_6-f5KNA&feature=iv&annotation_id=annotation_2826401389

And here’s Kimmel explaining it all:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hze_6-f5KNA

If you want, you could argue that we’re more likely to be duped by Kimmel (and Hansen, who seems like she was created specifically to be a multimedia/social star) because we’ve seen a steady stream of Sochi horror stories in the past few weeks — even though many of them are fakes.

But really, we are duped by viral videos because we want to be duped by viral videos, or slideshows, or whatever. Or more precisely, we don’t really care if they’re true or not, just that they distract us for a couple minutes. So, mission accomplished, Jimmy. See you in a few months.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

Explanatory journalism is a public good

At Vox, we believe that everyone deserves access to information that helps them understand and shape the world they live in. That's why we keep our work free. Support our mission and help keep Vox free for all by making a financial contribution to Vox today.

One-Time Monthly Annual

$95/year

$120/year

$250/year

$350/year

Other

$

Yes, I'll give $120/year

Yes, I'll give $120/year

We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. You can also contribute via