Early Monday morning, celebrity gossip site TMZ published a photo it claimed could have "changed world history."
It was a hoax. TMZ was duped.
The photo, according to the website and the experts it consulted, showed former President JOHN KENNEDY surrounded by naked women on a yacht. All the consulted experts said there was "no evidence the picture was Photoshopped."
They were right, but TMZ wasn't. Turns out the picture ran as part of a Playboy photo spread in 1967, four years after JFK was assassinated. TMZ acknowledged its error Monday afternoon, once a tipster alerted them to the fact.
The 1967 photograph accompanied a story titled, "Playboy's Charter Yacht Party: How to Have a Ball on the Briny with an Able-Bodies Complement of Ship's Belles."
The photo fakery probably won't sour TMZ's brand for the typical gossip addict, though it had garnered credit for being the first to accurately report the deaths of Michael Jackson and, more recently, actress Brittany Muprhy.
It still leaves us with an interesting question.
Let's suppose the photo was real. It's entirely possible knowing Kennedy's rep as a ladies man. Let's suppose the photo was taken in the late 50s and now, here's Kennedy looking to run for president in 1960. The scandal ruins his political career. History changes.
The question is, for better or worse? Was Kennedy any less of an effective leader because he was a philanderer? Doesn't seem like sleeping around hindered his ability to address the most significant issue of his presidency, the Cuban Missile Crisis. Can people with moral improprieties still be effective at their jobs? Should we choose the less qualified over the more capable because of a particular moral issue? How many of you answering that question have also cheated on your spouse?
Comments
thats what they get for being more sesationalistic instead of news worthy
Agreed, Brad. You wonder if they would've retracted the story had one of the site's employees tipped them off instead of a reader. As we've seen with the Balloon Boy story, it's more important to get the story right than to get it first.
TMZ is everything thats wrong in reporting "non news".
That aside, there are obvious disadvantages to being openly or secretly for that matter promiscuous. It leaves powerful men open to blackmail and coersion. In fact the real power in US politics is non elected, and is always looking at the angles, and pushing their candidates. A philandering president works for them Im sure.
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