How A Celebrity Sex Tape Rumor Is Born

Over the years, we've borne witness to many a celebrity sex tape scandal—some real, some real(ish), but most very, very fake. But where do all those fake sex tape rumors come from?

This week, we finally had a chance to find out. On Monday, several prominent blogs (including Fleshbot's distant cousins Gawker and Deadspin) received the following news tip:

As of Sunday Dec. 14, 2008, there were rumors of a sex tape featuring both sexy ESPN sideline reporter Erin Andrews and the New York Mets' David Wright. The video was thought to have been taken after a Rutgers football game which both attended in October 2007 at a hotel in New Jersey. Both the camera and video were apparently later stolen from Wright's Mercedes soon thereafter, while it was parked in a garage near his home in New York City. Since then the thieves or their surrogates have shipped clips of the escapade to Hollywood porn producers, including Red Light District, the porn production company behind the "One Night In Paris" Paris Hilton video. David Joseph, Red Light's CEO, only offered, "We have seen the tape and we have yet to make any conclusions upon its veracity or whether we are interested in buying it."

When reached late Monday, spokespersons for Andrews, Wright and ESPN have no comment.

For those of you who don't know, Erin Andrews is a minor celebrity in the sports world—an attractive sports reporter with a somewhat rabid fanbase. In other words, the perfect candidate for a sex tape scandal: famous enough to generate interest, but not so big that a rumor could be easily dismissed. It's not too hard to see how someone on deadline (or desperate for a story) might have chosen to ignore some of the fishier aspects of the email (no sources cited, no hard proof of the tape), and run with it, setting the internet ablaze with scandalous whispers about Ms. Andrews.

Prudence won out in this case, however—and a short few minutes after the first email was sent, our journalist friends received a second one:

Just dropping a line to let you know that the folks over at [4chan] are making up a fake story about Erin Andrews having a sex tape with David Wright. Naturally, I do not wish to see my Princess' name defamed like that. ... Anyhow, they are making a fake torrent, rapidshare vid, yahoo questions, google analytics or some such nerdy brouhaha... the whole shabang

Yes indeed, the angry internerds had struck again, leaving a trail of clues around the web, hoping to ensnare eager searchers trying to break a story (or at least catch a glimpse of Erin Andrews getting her sex on). This is the most important part about sex tape hoaxes: we want to believe, and so we grab on to the barest shred of evidence—that picture that looks kind of like Kristen Davis naked, the girl who is maybe Ashley Dupre—and run with it.

In this case, however, there were a few loose threads that made the the whole mess all too easy to unravel. That David Joseph quote? A nice touch, given that Red Light District is known for marketing celebrity sex tapes—but a quick phone call to his office revealed that the whole thing was little more than smoke and mirrors. As he told former Fleshbot editor Dashiell Bennett:

I have absolutely no idea what that is about. I don't even know who those people are. I suppose it's flattering that they would use my name, since we're know for celebrity stuff, but I don't like people using my name in a lie.

Nice try, scammers—and better luck next time. And to all of you out there, hoping for a honest to goodness celebrity sex tape? Just remember—when those actually happen, you'll find the clip on Fleshbot.

· The Anatomy Of An Internet Rumor (deadspin.com)