The Los Angeles Times rounds up some of the best celebrity pranks, even if they didn’t take place on April 1. There’s the time when a 17-year-old Britney Spears was accused of being 28, the time when BFFs George Clooney and Brad Pitt got into a faux tiff, this year’s Sarah Silverman-Matt Damon-Jimmy Kimmel-Ben Affleck tryst-fest, and 1998’s pie in the face for Bill Gates. Shame: Mario Lopez giving Eva Longoria a necklace is nowhere to be found.
“H—, I put $315 million into this thing, and we’re on the hook for $13 billion???the least I ought to get is my name on the company’s stationery,” writes Same Zell in his April Fools’ Day press release. Hey, at least he made the effort: He even made over the Tribune Co.’s homepage into the fictional ZellCoMediaEnterprises Inc. [WSJ]
At least one news organization has already been April Fool-ed: Crain’s Chicago Business. They picked up a fake press release from Time Out Chicago, which claimed Donald Trump had assumed a controlling interest in the magazine. (It helped that Donald smiled at readers from the cover of the March 27-April 2 issue under the headline “Our New Owner.”) Says TONY: “We thought people would realize this was a parody issue.” And we thought nobody took press releases at face value.
“BE careful today – April Fools’ Day – that the fool isn’t you,” writes Page Six. “At Michael’s, the media-centric eatery on West 55th Street, it will appear Amy Winehouse is lunching with call girl-craving ex-Gov. Eliot Spitzer, plus Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie, with baby Harlow. But they aren’t real. They are look-alikes (plus a doll) promoting a new Web site, Celebrifantasy.com.”
Too bad the they’re spending $24 on a chopped salad to promote a glorified RSS feed dud.
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