Web Exclusive: An interview with the source of the Deryck Whibley death rumor

(Pictured: Sum 41 frontman Deryck Whibley)



When Andrew Bucket (not his real last name) woke up this morning in the Washington, D.C., area, he didn’t know he would soon cause an internet maelstrom of rumors and false death reports. But the 25-year-old staff writer for blog BrightestYoungThings.com and booking manager for the Velvet Lounge somehow wound up at the center of one of today’s biggest internet stories. Bucket and an editor for the blog decided to start a rumor on Twitter that Sum 41 frontman Deryck Whibley had died. Within minutes, the news had been retweeted and noticed by mainstream news outlets. Altpress.com contacted Whibley’s management and quickly got word that the singer/guitarist had not died. After a little investigating, we traced the rumor back to its source–one young man whose day took an interesting turn. We got Bucket on the phone to get his side of the story.



INTERVIEW: Tim Karan



How did this all start?

I was talking on Gmail with an editor at Brightest Young Things–the D.C. blog that officially reported on this–and we started talking about what it’s probably like to start a rumor about a celebrity death. We were kind of just talking about how something like this can suddenly grow to something so exponentially ridiculous and big. That’s the thing about Twitter–things can just be doubled over and over and over again. We talked about how it starts with a Twitter post, then a blog picks it up and then a reputable news source picks it up. The turnover is so quick. It’s such a good headline that it’s worth having up for a little while just to stir the pot.



How did you go about it?

I’m the booking manager for the Velvet Lounge in D.C., so I have a Twitter account with a lot of followers on it, and BrightestYoungThings is basically the most popular blog in D.C. I said, “Let’s do Deryck Whibley.” It literally was the first person to come out of my mouth–he just has that kind of "Rick Moranis" quality. That was the rumor when I was growing up–before the internet–that Rick Moranis had died. It’s kind of believable because there’s no way anyone could ever confirm or deny that it’s true because it’s a person you don’t see enough of. We just threw a little blood in the water. I put one Twitter post up and it was a little literary. I said something like, “friends of the scene in Las Vegas have given us the sad news” then BrightestYoungThings retweeted it and posted the story. The thing about picking Deryck Whibley—he was just a good character for this ruse. I don’t wish death upon him. What we really wanted to see was if using our resources, we could start some kind of a buzz or whatever–and it worked. Within an hour, it had been retweeted 200 times over, then you guys picked it up and then I got called by the Washington Post. I don’t know how they got my number. [Laughs.] They already had a story cooked up about it. Five hours later, and I’ve gone from one Twitter post to being published in the Washington Post and on the Altpress website.



Why did you start the rumor?

There’s almost this want for celebrity death. It’s kind of old hack, but it’s definitely real. I’m not gonna say it wasn’t entertaining, but there is something kind of weird about it. The fact that the Washington Post was so eager to talk to me completely reaffirmed to me that the media wants this to happen. They want a false rumor so they can spread it and say it wasn’t them. But it wasn’t them, it was me. Who am I? I’m a fuckin’ guy. [Laughs.] I think people are more interested in the fact that it’s a hoax. We’ve done screen grabs of all the retweets and we’re gonna post it. I felt bad because a lot of them come from teenagers who were really upset.



Have you ever met Deryck Whibley?

No, but I did work at a Tower Records when I was 18. I’ve never met Deryck Whibley, but I’d like to. If he would play my club, that’d be awesome because we’d make a killing.



You didn’t worry about possible legal repercussions?

To be honest, we didn’t think it would become so protracted. I don’t know. It did kinda occur to me after the fact. Here’s the thing: I did this, but that doesn’t mean I thought it through. We did it with this artful intent. If his family saw that on the internet and had even a moment of terror, I would feel absolutely terrible. But I don’t know. Is there a law? There probably should be. If this little trick yields anything, I hope it creates like a “Megan’s Law” of Twitter where you can’t say someone’s dead if they’re not. It’s weird because you can’t fake your own death, but you can fake someone else’s death. But I had good intentions and didn’t mean any harm. alt