Kane Zipperman Hoax: Was This Texting Breakup Meme A Load Of Crap?

Apparently, the Kane Zipperman hoax is how we should start referring to that texting breakup meme that went viral last week.

Fernando Alfonso III of The Daily Dot takes Zipperman to task by first sharing his own texting meme.

“I just ended my marriage. And I did it by texting a bunch of Internet memes to my wife.

It started with a creepy habit I developed. I’ve been talking in my sleep, muttering things like ‘pretty girl’ while tapping on my wife’s shoulder incessantly. At first she didn’t make much of it, brushing it off as a result of me staying up too late re-watching ‘Breaking Bad.’

Then last night I muttered something that would bring my relationship to the brink. This is the conversation.”

From here, Alfonso posts his own fake texting breakup meme:

Then he proceeds to spill the beans — it was all made up. After this, he shares how he did it:

“The texts are real, but that’s not my wife, it’s me. The blue text is a friend roleplaying as me. The whole process took all of 10 minutes to write and paste together in the collage you see above.

This is the oldest way to dupe people into believing fake text messages. Then, of course, there’s sites like ifaketext.com, iphonefaketext.com, and www.ios7text.com that allow you to fabricate messages even easier.

But why let an obvious hoax prevent us from telling a funny story about a kid who broke up with his cheating girlfriend with Internet memes?”

Alfonso then attempts to pull the rug out from under the Kane Zipperman hoax, citing a look through Zipperman’s Twitter timeline as revealing “a teenager trying to cultivate a certain persona.”

“You’ll find a rape joke and some slurs,” he adds. “BuzzFeed claims Zipperman has a ‘viral spark.’ He has more than that — he’s got a grasp of just how easy it is to fool media organizations.”

Of course, there is no way of knowing for sure, short of an admission on the part of Zipperman, whether the texting breakup meme was made up.

(Gut tells me it was.)

But there’s a distinct feeling that Zipperman had no intention of anyone actually believing his story. He seems to be engaging in a 21st Century piece of performing art. A new way of delivering comedy to the masses, if you will. One that doesn’t require a motion picture deal or a standup comedy routine. More examination of his Twitter account seems to affirm that conclusion. For instance, when asked for a picture of his ex, he responded with this:

Everyone’s been asking for a picture of my Ex, so here she is… pic.twitter.com/GFR15KiiCj

— Bobby Light (@KaneZipperman) June 5, 2014

But unfortunately for Zipperman, people who pay to see standup comedians or comedies at the Cineplex know, to a degree, what they’re getting. In the world of the Internet, no one wants to be “hoaxed” because it implies a certain degree of gullibility. Once word breaks that the texting breakup meme is actually a fake, it’ll be interesting to see how many of the 30,000 new followers he’s amassed will stay onboard.

In the end, it’s likely the reality of his “performance art” will dull the humor, and the act will come across as more “boy who cried wolf” than anything worth laughing about.

Then again, if you look at the comments to Alfonso’s expose — where he’s called a “d*****bag” and chastised for the way he “broke up” with his wife — there’s a good chance no one will ever know.

After all, we seem to live in a society where people are ready to comment before they read what they’re actually commenting on.

Do you think Zipperman fabricated the texting breakup meme? Share your thoughts in our comments section.