Nine Past April Fools' Day Headlines That Turned Out to Be . . . True
Today is April Fools' Day. . . so browsing your newsfeed and social media apps CAN be a minefield, especially if you're gullible. But even though you SHOULD be extra skeptical today, remember: Sometimes the things people THINK are jokes turn out to be TRUE.
Someone came up with a list of nine of them, from previous April Fools' Days:
1. Marvin Gaye Was Shot and Killed By His Father. On April 1st, 1984.
The news was so shocking and the timing was so unfortunate that even Marvin's friend Smokey Robinson thought it was a sick prank by a disc jockey.
2. David Lee Roth Left Van Halen. They were one of the biggest rock bands on the planet in 1985, so it's not a surprise that when Roth announced his exit on April 1st, most fans thought it was a joke.
3. Selena Was Killed. Sadly, Selena was murdered on March 31st of 1995, and when the word got out the next day, fans accused radio stations of joking about it.
4. A New "GMail" with Tons of Storage Space. On April 1st, 2004, Google announced an invitation-only beta version of a new email service, called GMail.
At the time, the idea seemed like a fantasy, Gmail offered one GIG of space, at a time when the most popular free options, Hotmail and Yahoo, were offering two and four megabytes respectively. There are 1,000 megabytes in a gigabyte.
5. The "Onion" Won a Peabody. It wasn't a joke. The satirical news site won a Peabody Award on April 1st, 2009.
6. Joss Whedon Directing "The Avengers". It was initially written off as an April Fools' joke in 2010, when it was revealed that Joss was Marvel's top choice to direct "The Avengers". Two weeks later, Marvel officially confirmed it.
7. Ashton Kutcher Playing Steve Jobs. In 2012, Ashton was best-known for taking over for Charlie Sheen on "Two and a Half Men" and starring on "That '70s Show". So it seemed suspect when the announcement was made on April 1st that he'd be playing Steve Jobs in an indie movie.
8. AUFC Fighter Saved a Baby in a Runaway Car. On April 1st, 2015, UFC fighter Matt Hamill DID save a baby in a runaway car. The mother had fallen unconscious due to alcohol, causing her to weave erratically into oncoming traffic.
Hamill drove after the car, stopped it, and then punched through the windows in order to rescue the baby.
9. Will Ferrell and Kristen Wiig Starring in a Lifetime Movie. Also on April 1st, 2015, Lifetime announced its newest movie of the week: "A Deadly Adoption" with Will and Kristen.
It was the perfect setup for a great prank, but it was TRUE. The movie premiered two months later.
(The Wrap)
Originally posted on April 1st, 2021