Indie Band Fakes Sex-Tape Leak for Publicity

New York-based indie rock band YACHT announced Monday that their private sex tape had been leaked by an unnamed individual, and set up a website where fans could purchase the video for $5 directly from the musical couple rather than download it illegally—a move playing into the empowerment of victims in similar recent leaks. As it turns out, however, the “sex tape” was a hoax and an elaborate stunt to draw publicity for the release of their new music video. “For the upcoming music video for our song, ‘I Wanna Fuck You Til I’m Dead,’ we’re faking a sex tape leak,” the band told Jezebel last month. “In the days leading up to the video’s release, we’re going to pretend we were hacked, share and delete confessional social media posts on the subject of our privacy, then try to ‘get out in front of it’ and sell the sex tape, fake a server crash, etc.”