The Curious Case Of The Fake Defamer 'Bruno' Title That Ate The Internets
Posted by Seth at 4:35 AM on June 19, 2008
One of the on-the-job hazards of being a composite industry blog/nonsense repository is that occasionally, something we may have intended as a puckish, lightly satirical jab—a joke, if you will—is misinterpreted as fact. One memorable instance had The Australian soberly repeating our take on Mel Gibson's pitch for an ABC Holocaust movie, featuring a "Braveheart-style battle with thousands of Jewish and Nazi combatants rushing at each other across an open field." In that vein, while researching a post on the release date of Universal's upcoming Bruno movie, we were taken aback to find that our proposed mock-title for the summer 2009 release—Bruno: Delicious Journeys Through America for the Purpose of Making Heterosexual Males Visibly Uncomfortable in the Presence of a Gay Foreigner in a Mesh T-Shirt—had been picked up by a vast array of sources, including:
JoBlo.com, Just Jared, Hollyscoop, Slashfilm.com, Cinema Blend, The Movie Blog, Contact Music, MovieVice.com, Film Junk, Filmonic, Chortle.co.uk, Blu-Ray.com, and Movies.com. Additionally, it went misreported by such traditional news outlets as The Sunday Mirror, and The Guardian—who attribute the title to THR, though we can find no evidence online of that. We did, however, find the fake-title listed on Bruno's IMDb page, accompanied by the words "working title" in parenthesis. Could that be the source of all this confusion? In any case, we feel at this point the internet has willed the unwieldy name into existence. We'll take three points off the backend.
- Previously: 'Bruno', Universal's $42 Mil Gay-Austrian Gamble, Gets His Release Date [Defamer]

Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
Guadalahonky
Posted 8:27 AM 19/6/08
You should also know that Reinheardt's fake Billy Bob quotes about Angelina from 'A Call to the Bullpen' last week have also been making the rounds. So much so that AskMen.com "reported" them, and his rep had to deny to Access Hollywood that he made them. [www.accesshollywood.com]
Well played.
Guadalahonky
harshmellow
Posted 8:01 AM 19/6/08
That is awesome. Nice work Seth and Mark. Can you do this more often? Power to the Defamer!
harshmellow
B-Side
Posted 8:00 AM 19/6/08
That's fantastic.
And so very postmodern. SIMULACRUM!
B-Side
Little Mintz Sunshine
Posted 6:38 AM 19/6/08
I think "Bruno: DJTAFTPOMHMVUITPOAGFIAMT" would look great on a marquee.
Little Mintz Sunshine
Sweet Panda Love
Posted 6:19 AM 19/6/08
Ha! Joke's on them - it's a leather vest, not a mesh t-shirt.
Sweet Panda Love
Dr. Spaceman, Esq.
Posted 6:11 AM 19/6/08
Shouldn't your .au twin be on this?
Dr. Spaceman, Esq.
catch23
Posted 6:09 AM 19/6/08
what a queer!!
"The Nuttcups"- Digitalfuntown . com
catch23
el smrtmnky
Posted 5:52 AM 19/6/08
Chei, no wonder you did so well in the Nigerian stock exchange!
el smrtmnky
CourageousCoward
Posted 5:48 AM 19/6/08
So imdb, like wikipedia, is prone to false entries?! That would explain the impressive resume of Clint Howard?
CourageousCoward
Seth
Posted 5:46 AM 19/6/08
@nojo: Lisanti came up with that title. Ahh, Lisanti. Your heart will go on.
Seth
NoWireHangers
Posted 5:45 AM 19/6/08
If you reply to my comment, Apple will send you a free iPod Nano.
NoWireHangers
nojo
Posted 5:45 AM 19/6/08
I am sooooooo jealous. Daddy, can I have my own meme like Seth has?
nojo
TurdBlossom
Posted 5:41 AM 19/6/08
One blog can make a difference!
TurdBlossom
heidiho
Posted 5:37 AM 19/6/08
So. Much. Awesome.
heidiho
juniperjenny
Posted 12:31 PM 19/6/08
@B-Side: Whoa. I was totally thinking "Foucault's Pendulum" and semiotics too. Damn you NYU.
So I think this clears all earlier debates about the nature of defamer. Humorous misinformation to rule them all!
juniperjenny
Losin_it
Posted 1:14 PM 19/6/08
Somewhere, Nikki Finke is not pleased.
Losin_it
TwiceShy
Posted 5:09 AM 21/6/08
defamer, you little trouble maker you!
TwiceShy