Fact Check

Was a Man Hospitalized After His Apple Airpods Exploded in His Ear?

Do you hear that? It sounds like something that might not be true.

Published Dec. 27, 2018

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Claim:
A man was hospitalized in December 2018 after an Apple Airpod exploded in his ear.

A few days before Christmas of 2018, the entertainment website Huzlers published an article reporting that one of the season's hottest gifts, Apple Airpods, were responsible for putting a man in the hospital after one "exploded" in his ear:

An Arizona man is being hospitalized after his brand new Apple AirPod earphones allegedly exploded in his ear.

Josiah Johnson, 21, is being hospitalized with 2nd degree burns on his face after his Airpods exploded. According to Josiah, who admitted to have been watching pornography when his Airpods exploded, also has 1st degree burns on his penis and tesitcles.

This was not a genuine news article, of course. Huzlers is an entertainment website with a long history of publishing junk news. A disclaimer at the bottom of the site states that "Huzlers is the most infamous fauxtire & satire entertainment website in the world. If it's trending on social media you'll find it here!"

The included image of the supposed Airpods "victim" can be traced to an article about managing external burns of the ear which was published in the Indian Journal of Burns in May 2013, three years before Apple released the first generation of their Airpods.

Sources

Apple.com.   "Apple Reinvents the Wireless Headphone with AirPods."     7 September 2016.

Sarabahi, Sujata.   "Management of Ear Burns."     Indian Journal of Burns.   13 May 2013.

Huzlers.   "Man Hospitalized After His Apple Airpods Exploded in His Ear."     23 December 2018.

Dan Evon is a former writer for Snopes.

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