HAVE YOU HEARD the cheating rumours surrounding Kylie Jenner and her possible husband Travis Scott?
Well, never fear, they’re absolutely fine – and as it turns out, it wasn’t even Travis in those photos of him “cosying up” to a gal that wasn’t Kylie.
Inspired by YouTube channel YesTheory’s earlier endeavours, in which they tricked the internet into believing Justin Bieber eats burritos like a monster, ChristianAdamG set out to make a point about internet culture.
Looks wise, he’s often been compared to the rapper, so he decided to see if he could get away pretending to be him in a compromising situation, such as one in which he appears to cheat on his alleged wife, and mother of his daughter.
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“Does the internet even care about the truth sometimes?” he asks in his video. “The lie is always more entertaining, and that entertaining story is going to be the story you hear.”
Good question, seeing as multiple worldwide news outlets ran with the rumours, or at the very least, Travis’s succinct denial of them.
In the run up to his prank, Christian watched endless paparazzi videos of Travis to perfect his look. He then snuck into a hotel in order to get a shot of him up close and personal with a woman, before sifting through 700 of them to pick the most believable one.
After the story blew up, Christian said: “Now you all see how the world could believe something because they want to believe it.”
In the case of both this and the Justin Bieber burrito saga, the point is clear – aspects of both were so believably because of public perception of the two stars. With Justin Bieber, people want to believe that he’s become a bit of an oddball since finding God and stepping back from public life.
It was even easier for people to fall hook, line and sinker for the Travis set-up, given that the Kardashian-Jenners don’t have the best track record when it comes to infidelity and how they exploit it.
While there’s obviously room to criticise what Christian did – an act which directly targeted a person and his family – it also shows where we’re at in this era of “fake news”. It’s a term that’s been popularised since President Trump took office, but in the world of celebs it’s existed long before his time, thanks to blind gossip sites and “trusted sources”.
But what happens when the consumer takes a hand in becoming the creator of such tall tales? Should they really be given creative control over narratives, which concern real life people and not the intangible characters they perceive celebs to be, for social media clout?
At times like this, it’s worth remembering the old expression – “don’t believe everything you read, no matter how much you might want to.”
