So, Brad and Angelina are NOT splitting, yet the notion spread through the internet with the speed of lightning. That one wasn’t really a vicious rumor, just a stupid and misinformed one (and I’m very disappointed at Roger Ebert for Twittering it, which spread the rumor far and wide). Can anyone think of other rumors that actually hurt people, or at least their careers?
Fatty Arbuckle was innocent of murder, but his career was ruined. Lizzy Borden was acquitted, but to this day everyone thinks she took an ax to her parents. I’m not sure those count as vicious rumors, just misinformation.
What are some vicious rumors that I’m thinking of but can’t think of?
I don’t know anything about Lizzy Borden, but looking at OJ Simpson and Michael Jackson I’d have to say that winning in court doesn’t mean that the whole thing was based on rumors and misinformation.
Quite certainly OJ’s troubles ruined his career, but I wouldn’t go so far as to say that it was likely undeserved.
Well, one of the key pieces of evidence that acquitted Lizzy Borden – that if she had killed her parents, she would have been splattered with blood – has been shown to be based upon false assumptions (it depends on where she was standing). People following the case seriously now do think that she’s by far the most likely culprit.
Richard Jewell was falsely reported as being a suspect in the Centennial Park bombing in Atlanta. He suffered badly and was the target of lawsuits until the US Attorney wrote a letter saying that he never was a suspect. It certainly hurt his life, though he later recovered, won some lawsuits, and was able to appear on SNL about it.
Well we don’t know that the denials from “sources” aren’t another form of misinformation and all is not well and the divorce will still happen , but at a later date.
For vicious rumors as deliberate policy to try to destroy lives, of journalists, authors and others , look no further than the Church of Scientology
The Brangelina rumor was supposedly corroborated by Angelina’s longtime maid, Anna Horowitz (I am almost certainly misremembering her name), who described Angelina’s wild orgies with other guys while Brad sat alone text ing in another room. The moral of this sordid tale? Never hire Anna Horowitz as your private maid.
Not sure if it’s been disproved yet, but the source of the “J. Edgar Hoover: Crossdresser” story, irresistible as it is, was one lone, none-too-credible woman with an axe to grind. And Dan Quayle never said “I love it here in Latin America. I just wish I’d learned Latin.” That came from Hexagon (a DC-based comedy revue) and was picked up by Jay Leno.
I don’t think that Fatty Arbuckle’s career was ruined by the mirder thing, anyway; I believe that it was the sex party (I know, I know) that tainted his cherubic ‘innocent’ personna. Lizzie Borden wasn’t a ‘victim’ of any kind of rumor or misinformation: there is plenty of good information on her, just not enough to get a conviction in a court. It is debatable, also, as to whether or not her life got better after the affair. She had plenty of cash, which many saw as her motive.
I am a bit skeptical of the Brangelina denial of a split. Who knows about orgies while Brad is in the other room, but I have been hearing the castigation of sensational stories for a LONG time; as a general rule, IMHO, the stories are about 1/2 correct.
The Duke rape case, as well as that false accusation case that involved Al Sharpton - ah, the Tawana Brawley case. (Forgot the name for a minute there.)
Also that lady who made up the story of being attacked in the last US Presidental race.
In the “Biography” ep of Mama Cass, they played some of the early radio reports, and one of them did say that they suspected she had choked to death on a ham sandwich. I guess they reasoned was that Mama Cass would not have just eaten part of anything, so she must have choked.
Alice Cooper and the chicken incident. In reality, the chicken was thrown on stage and in turn, Alice threw it back into the audience. It was only there that it was torn apart and shredded. Alice did not eat it and drink the blood.
Re the Angelina Jolie having orgies-type rumor: they always go way overboard with the details. If they made up a story about the relationship slowly, quietly falling apart out of boredom or stress or squabbling over stupid stuff, then I might believe it. But no, it’s always something outrageous. Like Gennifer Flowers: “We had an affair for twelve years! He told me not to tell anybody! He used to spank me with a hairbrush!” Not “We had a one-night stand a dozen years ago and then he never called me.”
There was a blurb in some tabloid about a year ago about Brad Pitt falling for one of their nannies and Angelina being wildly jealous. Now, I want to see the woman who could make ANGELINA JOLIE jealous. This woman must be so hot that you can’t look at her without special sunglasses or something.
According to Mitrokhin’s KGB archive, the Soviets tried floating rumors of crossdressing and homosexuality with nearly every prominent politician in the United States. Almost none of the rumors had any traction since many of the targets were known womanizers. However, Hoover’s rumor stuck during the 1960s, but only after decades of the KGB floating it.
I was going to post, “Angelina and Brad, who cares?”, but then I realized I don’t care enough.
Seriously, the bizarre thing is not that their marriage may be on the rocks, the bizarre thing is that they could have a chance at all.
First of all, they’re both actors, and second, they’re young and good looking. That makes them media fodder. That puts everything the do in a giant spotlight.
Then they are leading romantic roles, which sees them spend long stretches of time pretending to be in love with various people, where they have to provide a convincing portrayal - sometimes even with sex scenes. Is it so inconceivable that that might foster an attitude of real emotional involvement?
Now mix in some prior celebrity couple relationships for each, and that just amps the papparazzi factor by 100.
Yeah, that’s a healthy environment to have a relationship.
And I thought the rumor was she was having wild orgies with other women. Shows how closely I read the tabloid headlines (while standing in line at the checkout counter).
Try a little Googling, some lady did claim she was attacked and branded with a “B” for Obama, because someone noticed she had a bumper sticker as worker for the McCain/Palin campaign. Most people didn’t really buy it, even MaCain/Palin were sorta ambivalent, even before people noticed the “B” was backward, as if done in a mirror, and the event was not corroborated by the nearby ATM camera. SHe eventually admitted filing a false police report.
At any rate, since someone mentioned the Richard Gere gerbil incident, I’ll add the Jamie Lee Curtis as hermaphrodite rumor. I tell people there’s no such proof, and for some people, that just proves it – of course, the doctors who know can’t tell us, because of confidentiality, but that just makes it all the more true. :rolleyes: See. They have to not be available as a source, that’s how the rumor got started. There’s just no way to kill this particular fallacy. And it probably got started because her name is “Jamie”, and it works for a boy as well. Sheesh.
