# CNN Reports... Britney Spears is dead. (JOKE!) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 8, 2001, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-reports-britney-spears-is-dead-joke/86055 "2001-10-08T04:48:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Zaphod\_Beeblebrox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/0ea827/32.png) [@Zaphod\_Beeblebrox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zaphod_Beeblebrox)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2001, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-reports-britney-spears-is-dead-joke/86055/1 "2001-10-08T04:48:57Z")
I just mentioned this in another thread, but I’m giving it its own thread, in case people are no longer reading the other Spears thread. link deleted [Edited by Eutychus55 on 10-08-2001 at 06:54 AM] ---
**Author:** ![Zaphod\_Beeblebrox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/0ea827/32.png) [@Zaphod\_Beeblebrox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zaphod_Beeblebrox)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2001, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-reports-britney-spears-is-dead-joke/86055/2 "2001-10-08T04:51:30Z")
Ummm… might be a false alarm. When I closed the window, I got some porn pop up ads. Doesn’t sound like CNN. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Bad\_Astronomer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@The\_Bad\_Astronomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Bad_Astronomer)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2001, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-reports-britney-spears-is-dead-joke/86055/3 "2001-10-08T04:54:08Z")
Um, somehow I am having a hard time believing this. The tagline reads “Dissociated Press”, and a porn site popup rears its head too. ---
**Author:** ![Zaphod\_Beeblebrox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/0ea827/32.png) [@Zaphod\_Beeblebrox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zaphod_Beeblebrox)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2001, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-reports-britney-spears-is-dead-joke/86055/4 "2001-10-08T04:54:59Z")
Yeah. I saw all that. I reacted and posted this immediately, but then I saw the rest of it. Oooops… I did it again. ---
**Author:** ![andygirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@andygirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andygirl)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2001, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-reports-britney-spears-is-dead-joke/86055/5 "2001-10-08T05:00:01Z")
Yeah… got to watch out for those @porno site redirects. ---
**Author:** ![Jet\_Jaguar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jet_jaguar/32/3562_2.png) [@Jet\_Jaguar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jet_Jaguar)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2001, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-reports-britney-spears-is-dead-joke/86055/6 "2001-10-08T05:09:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by The Bad Astronomer \* > \*\*Um, somehow I am having a hard time believing this. The tagline reads “Dissociated Press”, and a porn site popup rears its head too. \*\* And if you click on the “Dissociated Press” link, you get this line: “It it a work of social parody for research purposes. CNN is a copyright of AOL Time Warner. Britney Spears is probably a copyright of the RIAA and is not dead.” ---
**Author:** ![Badtz\_Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@Badtz\_Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badtz_Maru)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2001, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-reports-britney-spears-is-dead-joke/86055/7 "2001-10-08T05:36:43Z")
Would a moderator either delete or put a warning on this thread? I clicked the link and it opened up about a half-dozen windows on my computer, including an animated .GIF of a woman masturbating, then attempted to safe a file to my hard drive. Some of us browse from work, and clicking that link could be grounds for dismissal at a lot of companies. ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2001, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-reports-britney-spears-is-dead-joke/86055/8 "2001-10-08T07:14:39Z")
So Zaphod, how did you happen to get to that link huh? 😉 Obviously this was based on the failed joke of those radio DJs who got fired if I recall correctly. Might want to be more careful about posting links with porn pop-ups too. I imagine it’s frowned upon mightily. So the mods may like to know this link has also been posted in jarbabyj’s thread in this forum. ---
**Author:** ![Zaphod\_Beeblebrox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/0ea827/32.png) [@Zaphod\_Beeblebrox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zaphod_Beeblebrox)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2001, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-reports-britney-spears-is-dead-joke/86055/9 "2001-10-08T11:17:36Z")
I found that link on another message board. Unfortunately, I posted it here almost immediately, before closing the window and getting the pop-ups (and before noticing the “Dissociated Press” part). I apologize profusely to everyone who clicked on it and was inconvenienced by it. ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2001, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-reports-britney-spears-is-dead-joke/86055/10 "2001-10-08T11:30:38Z")
You know I just realized that you would have posted it before you closed the window, damn multi-tasking eh? And I came to apologize if I sounded … like a school marm there. I should have thought it a little more through. I’m sure it was an easy mistake and one that wont happen again. Since it does link to nudity it might be wise to contact a moderator and have them remove the link. since being proactive is a good thing. ---
**Author:** ![Eutychus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Eutychus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eutychus)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2001, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-reports-britney-spears-is-dead-joke/86055/11 "2001-10-08T11:55:55Z")
I checked it out and closing the window does redirect you to a porn site, so I’ve deleted the link and I’ll be closing this thread. Please try to be more careful next time.