The Internet has always been obsessed with identity, from the parental panic surrounding the anonymous AOL chatrooms of the ’90s to Mark Zuckerberg’s apparent war on privacy to the recent interest in self-branding. There’s a famous phrase on the Internet that encapsulates perhaps the most relevant part of this fascination, cribbed from the children’s TV show Arthur: “You really think someone would do that, just go on the Internet and tell lies?”
Most of the time, the answer is a resounding yes. Steven Morrissey—yes, that one—caused an online furor recently when it appeared that he began to use Twitter. It seemed legit: One of his reps even confirmed to Pitchfork that the singer was, in fact, behind the account.
Alas, it was too good to be true. Morrissey released a statement yesterday to the zine True To You avowing that he doesn’t have a Facebook or Twitter account:
Oh well.
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Write to Bijan Stephen at bijan.stephen@gmail.com