Lily Allen’s Instagram Prank Backfires

An ambitious prankster sometimes needs an assist from co-conspirators with some leverage. But those people may have more to lose.

British pop singer Lily Allen has a long history of orchestrated controversy and publicity stunts, but her latest online jape may have put jobs at risk.

According to The New Zealand Herald, Allen landed at Gold Coast airport in Australia and apparently convinced security personnel to cuff her and pretend to arrest her. She posted this picture to her Instagram account with the tag “#uhoh.”

Lily Allen in handcuffs
This photo of Lily Allen in handcuffs has been removed from Instagram.

It got thousands of “likes,” but it’s gone now. And airport authorities say the incident is being “investigated internally.” Allen, for her part, is in the clear and free to continue spreading her unpredictable brand of sass.

You Shouldn’t Buy This Boat

You get a text message obviously not meant for you. Do you politely correct the sender, sympathizing with the inconvenience? Or do you spring into action?

Redditor /u/beccascott1 brings us a tale of a boat deal that’s all wet.

You shouldn't buy this boat

The prospective buyer seems oddly intent on going through with the purchase, even after the product is revealed to be less than seaworthy.

According to the screen capture, the wiseacre’s phone is at a nearly full charge, sidestepping a standard rebuke from the Redditorati.

Fellow posters /u/bpaq3 and /u/MustardIcecream weigh in, forecasting a dark aftermath for the ruse, making the whole thing just sad enough to be funny.

[via Reddit’s /r/pranks]

Who Put the White Flags on the Brooklyn Bridge?

Who raised white flags on Brooklyn Bridge — and why?
by Michael Winter
USA TODAY
July 22, 2014

BigfootBrooklynBridge-425

The New York Police Department had a big whodunit on its hands Tuesday, in addition to egg on its face.

Who swapped out two big American flags flying over the Brooklyn Bridge towers with Old Glories that had been bleached white? And, more important, why?

But a more pressing concern was how did the overnight caper happen right under the noses of the NYPD on one of the city’s most heavily guarded and constantly watched landmarks?

“We’re lucky they just put a flag up there “” and not a bomb,” a law enforcement source told the New York Post. “It’s an embarrassment.”

Read more here.

Fiddle File #10

fiddler-75Editor’s Note: Ask The Fiddler is a lifestyle advice column that aims to remedy more chaos and confusion than it creates. Questions may be submitted to us here at Art of the Prank, and good luck.


The Fiddle File #10

Here we go with another madcap roundup of hoaxes, scams and damn fool idiocy making the rounds these days. Take heed. Some of these fiddles may soon be showing up on your computer, phone or even up close and personal. Check it out:

Kentucky & Etc: Take it off? You got a gig serving burgers and fries. Now the restaurant manager is ordering you to submit to a strip-search. Here”™s the history of a very bizarre hoax, pulled time and again.

FaceBook: What makes you click? Here are some hoax headlines that have steered the curious into a marketing scam: Huge plane crashes into bridge? – Terrible roller coaster accident! – 99% Can’t Watch More Than 15 Seconds – Half Girl Half Snake! – Terrible accident with pencil! – HUGE pimple explodes – Shark eats living man! – Spider lives under skin!

plane-crashes-bridge

FaceBook, email: Here”™s another example of the “What makes you click?” hoax. Continue reading “Fiddle File #10”