A meta-hoax that exposed how easily misinformation spreads.
In a twist stranger than fiction, Andrew Frelon, self-proclaimed “spokesman” for AI-generated “band” The Velvet Sundown, has admitted he was never part of the project.
What started as a prank spiralled into a full-blown media circus, with Frelon duping Rolling Stone into an interview before revealing the whole thing was an elaborate “art hoax.”
Frelon, a web privacy expert using a pseudonym, saw the viral buzz around the AI band and decided to “insert an extra layer of weird.”
He revived an old Twitter account, posed as the band’s rep, and even used ChatGPT to craft angry tweets blasting journalists for not reaching out.
The act worked too well, writers took the bait, and Rolling Stone interviewed him without verifying his claims.
The real (well, “real”) Velvet Sundown has since disavowed Frelon, but the damage was done.
His Medium post framed the stunt as a “red-teaming” experiment exposing media verification gaps.
