Shocker: Viral HOPA girl totally a hoax!


Actually, if you recall, we totally called it.

The tale of the sassy assistant who bested her boss was not only totally fake, but the hoax’s creators indicate that the whole stunt was arranged to mock blogs that post up the latest viral trend with no skepticism or investigation. Of course, we were suspicious, but BoingBoing did some digging. They turned up a casting call that fit the description of “Jenny.” All Things D posted a pretty thorough “we call bullshit” screed, and the brothers behind pic site The Chive fessed up pretty much immediately. They tried to imply “Jenny” was real, but cracked under like six seconds of intense questioning:

Jay Leno wants Jenny on his show, Leo Resig says. “Good Morning America” wants her, too. He’s not sure the best way to proceed, because “we’re trying to be respectful of that girl.”

But don’t worry, Leo says. The brothers plan on identifying Jenny “tomorrow morning around 10 am. We’re not exactly sure who or how we’re going to release it. Obviously it will be on thechive.com as well.”

Okay. But you’re the same guys who gave us the Donald Trump story, and that was fake. Is this one different?

Pause. “Good homework. That was a good time.”

Ah. So is Jenny’s story real, then? “This one is to be determined. People are kind of making up their own stories.”

We go on this vein for a bit. Since Leo won’t tell me the story is real, and the Trump story definitely wasn’t, I’ll assume that this one is make-believe, too. “If you want to assume that, you can. We have a track record.”

So who is Jenny? As I’d suspected yesterday, Jenny actually is the type of model who you might see in a sidebar t-shirt ad. Her real name is Elyse Porterfield, and she tweeted confirmation of her role in the hoax. So there you have it, beleaguered assistants of the world- the bitchy resignation via white board you’ve dreamed about living vicariously through has not yet occurred.

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