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Ooops! New York Times pranked by EWU student

Kevin Graman
Staff writer
March 27, 2008

Filmmaker and EWU student Pawl Fisher, aka Pawly P., right, posted a YouTube video apparently showing the disruption of an EWU womens basketball game, claiming it to be part of a fad called "Rickrolling." When contacted by a New York Times reporter, he maintained that it was genuine. It wasn't. At left is Alan "Big Al" Curtis, whom Pawl calls his "business manager." The prank video: Rick Roll'd New York Times: The ’80s Video That Pops Up, Online and Off KHQ TV uncovered the ruse: EWU student pranks the New York Times L.A. Times: Interview with singer Rick Astley

It's not the first time a newspaper has been "punk'd," and certainly there have been far more serious consequences of a reporter being deceived by a source.

But an Eastern Washington University film student who calls himself PawLy P. managed to pull a fast one on a New York Times reporter writing a story about "rickrolling," a sort of Internet prank in which the Web user clicks on a link and ends up watching a Rick Astley video.

That's right, Rick Astley, the little red-haired English guy from the '80s with the Motown voice singing "Never Gonna Give You Up." You know you liked it.

Well, PawLy, actually 22-year-old Pawl Fisher, posted his video on YouTube of actor-buddy Davin Perry impersonating Astley lip-synching "Never Gonna" at an EWU women's basketball game. In the video, the basketball action at EWU's Reese Court appears to have been delayed while the crowd gets its groove on.

The Times sees the video, reaches Fisher on the phone, and the prank becomes part of all the news that's fit to print.

"A routine timeout turned into a 1980s flashback, as two men on the sidelines briefly hijacked the proceedings with a popular prank known as rickrolling," the Times reported in its March 24 editions.

But it was only an illusion crafted by Fisher's film editing.

"My intention was never to punk the New York Times," Fisher said. "My intention was to punk the whole planet."

The Times does cover the world.

"The lady (reporter) was really sweet. I didn't set out to make her look bad," said Fisher, who wants to be a film editor for a major studio. He may be on his way. As of Wednesday, his YouTube video had almost 400,000 hits, or "the size of a medium city," he pointed out.

His deception never would have come to light were it not for Anthony Gomes, reporter for Spokane's NBC affiliate KHQ-TV. Gomes perceived a punk where the Times could not.

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