DNA testing confirms it, satire news website reports

Jan 5, 2015 11:29 GMT  ·  By

Much has been said about the paternity of Michael Jackson’s 3 children, including that they weren’t his but actually of some close friend or collaborator, so here’s something unexpected: apparently, Michael Jackson had another child, one no one ever knew about until just now.

His name is Bruno Mars and there’s a chance you might have heard of him… seeing how he’s a best-selling pop artist with millions of fans worldwide.

Don’t trust your eyes

Talk about how Michael and Bruno are similar, from their on-stage presence to certain moves and even their physiognomy, has been around for a very long time, so this report isn’t doing anything else but use all those rumors to deliver a shocking story.

Hoax Slayer tracks it down to one of those “satire websites,” meaning sites that publish fake and often scandalous / shocking content to boost traffic. However, this particular report deserves credit for the hard work that went into making it believable.

It might not be satire, but at least it’s a well-thought fake.

Apparently, “confirmation” of the “news” comes from Mars’ former publicist, who saw the results of DNA testing and decided to go public with them because Bruno refused to, even when he was told the association with the late King of Pop would boost his profile, and as such, his sales.

The name of that former publicist is Vladimir Kershov: he was obviously fired for going public with this, Bruno’s newest publicist, Jacqueline Pryor, is quoted as saying.

Michael is the father, but not really

While we’re stopping for a second to appreciate how detailed the fake report is, we might as well take note of the effort that went into the fake quotes.

One from Kershov explains why he decided to go rogue and reveal Bruno’s paternity behind his back. A couple more are from the new publicist, Pryor.

“The job of a publicist is indeed to better the career of their clients by persuading them to take part in things that cause their popularity to grow, however, the client must trust their publicist. The artist has the final say, no matter what,” Pryor is quoted as saying.

And then, the final blow: “It is true. Doesn’t mean he was right in saying so, but it is true. When it comes to 29-year-old Bruno Mars, Michael Jackson is the father!”

Obviously, no publicist, let alone one working for an artist as big as Bruno Mars, would ever word their statements this way, particularly on a topic which they know their client doesn’t want discussed.

Still, there aren’t too many people out there who know that, or if they are, they are outnumbered by those who don’t. When you also have photos like the one below making the rounds, seeing those official-sounding statements is the closest thing to a confirmation – so no wonder so many people fell for this hoax.

Talk of the similarities between Bruno Mars and Michael Jackson has been around for a while
Talk of the similarities between Bruno Mars and Michael Jackson has been around for a while

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Fake report claims Bruno Mars' real father was Michael Jackson
Talk of the similarities between Bruno Mars and Michael Jackson has been around for a while
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