Wayne and Zac: brothers from other mothers, fo' sheezy.
Have you read Ben Westhoff's “The Efron Scandal” feature yet in this week's OC Weekly? Dozens of thousands of 'net surfers have (enough—30,000 and counting—to crash our site, temporarily). Among those readers are those who work for very popular hip-hop magazine XXL, snarky pop-culture rag Radar, snarkier music blog Idolator, high-traffic rap blog nahright.com (can't find the link now, sorry), A Socialite's Life gossip spot, gossip queen supreme Perez Hilton (OMFG!!!! LMAO!!!) and many other sites. And some dim bulbs at British tabloid The Sun. The Internets are absolutely aflame with conjecture about the reality of “The Efron Scandal.” To my utter shock, many gullible mouth-breathers post comments to websites. Nurse, the smelling salts...
The Sun swallowed the satirical story [i.e., IT'S FABRICATED TO AN ABSURD DEGREE TO PROVOKE LAUGHTER, HAHA] without an iota of skepticism, and ran this tabloidy piece about adorable High School Musical co-star Vanessa Hudgens, alluding to Zac Efron's alleged extracurricular activities with Dirty South rapper Lil Wayne. Those nitwits couldn't even attribute our story properly, calling OC Weekly a “US magazine.” I can just imagine the Sun editor saying, “Oi, all those yank publications are the same, innit? Let's fuck off to the boozer, mate.”
My favorite responses so far have been on xxlmag.com, where some obviously sharp-witted readers note that, while they realize our article is fictitious, they admit that they wouldn't be surprised if a Wayne/Zac collab did happen. That crazy Weezy mofo will work with damn near anyone... See, it's funny because it's (almost) true.
But the overwhelming impression I have over the hysteria “The Efron Scandal” has generated is that some people don't recognize comedy gold, even as it's repeatedly conking them upside their thick heads.
UPDATE: New York Magazine (skeptical) and VH1's blog (gullible) add their $.02.
December 18, 2007 16:19
If you think that article was clearly satirical you obviously haven't listened to any of Lil Wayne's music or followed his antics over the past year.
December 19, 2007 07:16
^cosign^
December 19, 2007 22:41
Even when I read it on Radar (with their terrible photoshop) I was skeptical. Then I read the original story here and I knew it was farce.
No matter what Lil Wayne's about, there is no way Disney would ever let those lyrics happen to their property. That's what made it clearly satirical to me.
I think this article is awesome and everyone I tell about it thinks so too. They especially love how so many news outlets have picked up on it without even verifying the source.
December 20, 2007 07:26
Right?! ^^cosigns & squares^^
I even wrote a mini fanfic about it to go on my blog! That ish was some of the best Fauxssip I heard all day and only because we knew it was ridiculous, but just maybe...
Personally, I wouldn't put it past either of one of them.
"Tha black is hott, tha black is hott.."
"Bet on me!"
December 21, 2007 07:33
that could NOT be true Zac Efron is my other lover!!!! (I am a girl)
December 29, 2007 08:41
zac efron , is my boyfriend !! LOL^^ , euHH I don't think he is homosexual because , before he was vanessa hudgens 's boyfriend and..... she is a GIRL !!!!
January 2, 2008 15:53
You give yourself to much credit. I think your "satire" skills are very rusty. What kind of paper is OC Weekly anyway, the language in both stories is suprising for a reputable paper.
Sounds like a true story that was labeled "satire" after the fact (when threatened with lawsuits).
January 2, 2008 16:04
Steven:
Successful satire happens when there's enough plausibility in a story to keep readers wondering whether it's true—and if it makes people laugh. On these scores, "The Efron Scandal" is successful satire.
OC Weekly received no lawsuit threats. We labeled the feature satire because there were enough readers—and blogs, gossip sites and newspapers—who swallowed the piece hook, line and sinker and nearly suffered heart attacks as a result.