Limp Bizkit concert hoax builds momentum

An internet hoax about a secret concert to be held Wednesday at a Dayton gas station went viral, eliciting a response by Dayton police and the band Limp Bizkit. It was even picked up by The Daily Beast, Vice and Gawker, among other publications.

On Monday, a Facebook events page posted an announcement that the 1990s heavy metal band would be performing at the Sunoco located at the corner of Keowee Street and Wayne Avenue at 8 p.m. Wednesday. We reported that the concert is a hoax.

Word spread quickly. At 2:10 p.m. Tuesday, Dayton Police tweeted a message: “BE AWARE: There is NO Limp Bizkit concert Wed. 4/20 at Sunoco station at Keowee St. & Wayne Ave. These ads (are) FALSE.” The post includes an image of a poster promoting the hoax with the word “FAKE” in big red letters.

In addition, Fred Durst, vocalist for Limp Bizkit, tweeted “TOTAL BS” about the secret show.

Messages that the concert was a hoax, however, did not deter some Limp Bizkit fans from posting their plans to attend the concert.

One tweet posted Wednesday morning to Fred Durst’s Twitter feed reads: “I’ll be in Dayton to see Limp Bizkit and my main man @freddurst in about 5 hours. This 8 hour trip is going to be worth it. #Dayton”

Others were playing along with the hoax, such as “Got a photo pass for @limpbizkit at Sunoco in Dayton.”

According to The Daily Beast, Brian Baker claimed responsibility for starting the hoax: “’ I made the event for 2017 — and then the people decided that they want it now,’ he said. ‘If they decide to show up tonight, that’s up to Fred and Limp Bizkit.’ ”

The Dayton Police Department’s post on Tuesday includes a screen grab of a promotional poster with the date “4-20-16” — not 2017.

WHIO-TV reporter Mike Campbell Wednesday morning interviewed Marcus McCarty-Towers, an Uber driver in Dayton. McCarty-Towers admitted that he was in on the joke. "It is indeed a hoax. What's really nice, though, is that we're doing something that sort of makes the people feel better about themselves in a time when things could go potentially pretty bad."

McCarty-Towers said Cincinnati was trying to do the same thing “and we totally beat them to it.” McCarty- Towers also told people he’d be willing to drive them to the show and added: “And it’s actually good to hear that people are thinking outside the box with this.”

Also on the “Limp Bizkit to play 4/20 Secret Show” Facebook page, Josh Gwin of Yellow Springs posted a fake video showing Limp Bizkit playing live at a Sunoco.

By 5 p.m. Wednesday, 7,000 people had indicated they were going to tonight’s phony concert, with another 3,200 interested in going.

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