Beyonce Redeemed: YouTube Video Fake

Yes, the video that made the rounds yesterday of Beyonce shrieking through “If I Were A Boy” on the Today Show last November is a fake. Matthew Zeghibe, a  26 year-old computer arts student from Connecticut, admitted that he faked the whole thing with a little pitch correction software. Why did he do it? Just to make a point. “I was just trying to make a point. I wanted to show people how easy it is to manipulate someone’s voice. If I can do it with a clip I pulled off of TV, imagine what they are doing on records and during live performances. The entire industry has been so manipulated, because there’s such an emphasis on perfection, so when something like this happens, it causes such a stir”, Zeghibe told Rolling Stone. “It was just what I’ve learned in school, and it’s fun I could fool so many people and get away with it. A lot of people had a lot of laughs because of it, so why should I apologize? If you can’t poke fun at yourself, I don’t know what kind of person you are.”

To top it all off, Beyonce was evidently thrilled with the hoax as it gave her appearances on Letterman last night and this morning’s Today Show a welcome shot of publicity. As I like to say, there’s no publicity that’s bad publicity. Just ask Rod Blagojevich.

© 2009, Wayne Rosso. All rights reserved.