Embarrassments

Urban legends are primarily expressions of our fears, and one of the things we fear the most is being embarrassed. And, as this collection of legends demonstrates, we can be embarrassed in a bountiful variety of ways.

witness farted johnny depp amber heard trial

Did Witness Fart Loudly While Testifying in Depp v. Heard Trial? This rumor doesn't pass the smell test.

Miscaptioned

The Queen of England and the Farting Horse No fewer than five U.S. presidents have found themselves the butt of this particular joke.

Legend

Yes, Lauren Boebert Called for Biden’s Impeachment With the Slogan ‘Imeach Biden’ Some social media users reacted with considerable schadenfreude to the embarrassing typo in the controversial...

True

A TikTok video purportedly showed a cop police officer catching his cheating wife during a traffic stop.

Did a Cop Really Catch His Wife Cheating, as Seen on TikTok? The video has been viewed millions of times.

False

Was Prince Philip Friends with Jeffrey Epstein? As with many stories concerning British royalty, there is a lot of conjecture to wade...

Unproven

Was Fucking (the Town in Austria, That Is) Renamed? Rumor has it the infamously named town has officially been bowdlerized.

True

Did Pope Francis’ Instagram Account ‘Like’ a Racy Photo? The Vatican reportedly has launched an investigation into the account.

True

Did John Barnes Appear on TV With Porn DVDs Behind Him? A supposed embarrassing accident led to some online mockery of the former soccer player.

False

Did These Pencils Accidentally Promote Doing Drugs? Some mistakes are harder to erase.

True

Did a Drunk Crop Duster Drop Manure From the Sky in Kansas? A routine review of content labeled satire.

Labeled Satire

Does Barack Obama’s Official Portrait Contain Secret Images of Sperm? Far-right pundits went off the deep end after African-American artist Kehinde Wiley's portrait of Barack...

False

'The Heel in the Grate' Wedding Legend Legend: A bridesmaid walking down the aisle at a wedding caught her spike heel in...