“Jimmy Kimmel Live” on Monday night revealed that the viral video, “Worst Twerk Fail EVER,” that had been burning its way around the Web last week was all a hoax, courtesy of his show.
The YouTube video, “Worst Twerk Fail EVER - Girl Catches Fire,” was posted on September 3 and went viral last week, making its way around the Internet and social media, even being featured on local newscasts nationwide. The original twerking video has been seen more than 10 million times as of today, while Kimmel’s follow-up reveal video is climbing towards two million.
On Monday night, Kimmel admitted to posting the video with a stuntwoman: “To the conspiracy theorists on the Internet who thought it was fake—you were right, it was fake. We made it up.”
He goes on, “Even though the video was fake, that did not stop hundreds of news outlets from showing it.”
Brief Take: Kimmel scored two huge marketing coups in one fell swoop, first with the original video and again when local news outlets who had run stories on the video, then had to air the reveal. Expect late-night hosts everywhere to try this on for size, putting the verity of all YouTube viral vids in question for a while.
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