The person behind the “Drake Wedding Guy” prank has come clean.
The culprit, who claims to be a 16-year-old from San Antonio, Texas, admitted Tuesday night that he used his Photoshop and video editing skills to create a fake DM conversation between he and Drake.
“I’m sorry to all the people who believed in it and genuinely wanted me to do it,” Daley told a Toronto radio station. “It was more of a joke at first … I never expected it to blow up this big.”
The teen said he got a friend with “a deeper voice” to do a phone interview a day earlier as the fake groom-to-be “Jacob Hawk.” He also created an Instagram account for “Jenny,” the non-existent fiancée.
On Tuesday, less than two hours after iHeartRadio.ca published a list of reasons to doubt the veracity of the story, Drake confirmed it was a hoax. “Instagram is a disturbing place,” the Toronto rap star wrote in an Instagram story.
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The fake DM exchange started with an appeal for Drake to perform at his wedding. “My fiancé (sic) and I are getting married on September 22nd and she is your biggest fan and I wanted to surprise her. How many liked or follows for you to perform a couple songs at our wedding. It would mean the world to us!”
The bogus response from Drake read: “First off, congrats on getting married! And 1 million likes and 100,000 follows. Good luck.”
The teen created the “@drake_wedding” Instagram account and posted nothing but a screenshot of the fake DM conversation. Within a week it had racked up 1.3 million “likes” and more than 250,000 followers.
The teen said on Wednesday his prank “didn’t hurt anybody” but he apologized to Drake (who he claims has since blocked him). Despite reportedly telling a friend that he came up with the hoax in hopes of selling the account so he can buy a car, the teen has vowed to delete it.
As of Wednesday morning, the account was still online, although the original post has been deleted.