This article has been updated since it was first posted.
"Instagram is a disturbing place." This is all Drake had to say Tuesday evening about "The Drake Wedding Guy."
Less than two hours after iHeartRadio.ca listed reasons "The Drake Wedding Guy” was likely a hoax, the Toronto rapper shared a screenshot of a DM he received from the person behind it. "Sorry it blew up like this I'm a 16 year old from San Antonio and never meant for it to be like this," the person wrote. "Huge fan of you.
"You can have my account if you want. I don't know what to do."
"The Drake Wedding Guy" claimed to have DM’ed the Canadian rapper via Instagram: “Hey Drake! 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!”
According to a screenshot of the bogus DM, Drake responded: “First off, congrats on getting married! And 1 million likes and 100,000 follows. Good luck.”
With that, “The Drake Wedding Guy” created the Instagram account “@drake_wedding” and posted nothing but the screenshot of his fake DM conversation. It soon racked up 1.2 million “likes” and more than 251,000 followers.
Drake had not publicly confirmed that the conversation and his pledge to perform at the wedding were legit so, to many people, the whole thing smacked of a prank.
Comments on the Instagram post ranged from “nah, it's definitely a hoax” and “the moment that drake comments on this post is the moment that I actually believe it” to “this is soooo fake” and “fakest s**t I’ve seen.” One person commented: “100% fake and 100% gonna sell this account once everyone has forgotten about it.”
Indeed, there are numerous apps available that let users create fake DM conversations – and anyone with basic Photoshop skills can make a screenshot look real.
On Tuesday morning, a Toronto radio station aired a phone interview with “The Drake Wedding Guy,” identified as “Jacob Hawk of Washington.” But, on his personal Instagram profile, his surname is shown as "Hawks." (The alleged Drake DM screenshot post shows Little Rock, Arkansas as the location.)
Hawk insisted he doesn’t know how to fake a screenshot and admitted that his fiancée found out about his supposed “surprise.” He also said he’s seen nothing from Drake since allegedly getting a reply from him.
“Every day since he sent me that DM I’ve tried hitting him up,” Hawk said. “He hasn’t responded yet … he hasn’t seen it either.”
These are some of the clues iHeartRadio.ca had that we were all getting played:
• In both the alleged DM to Drake and the screen grab’s caption on Instagram, he refers to the woman to whom he’s engaged as his “fiancé.” Surely, any man who is a month away from tying the knot with a woman knows that it’s spelled “fiancée.” (“Fiancé refers to a man.)
• The @drake_wedding Instagram account followed only four other accounts – including the private account @jacobhawk22. The profile at @jacobhawk22 showed his name as “Jacob Hawks.” So, is his surname Hawk or Hawks?
• Shortly before 4:20 p.m. EST on Tuesday, the Instagram account @jacobhawk22 was revised to "@couldbevinny" and displayed a photo of the late rapper XXXTentacion.
• The Instagram account for @jacobhawk22 initially showed a photo of a woman’s hand holding a man’s hand – with rings on both of their fingers. Problem is, there’s already a wedding ring on the woman’s hand. Plus, the photo was lifted from one of several websites that have published it since 2016.
• According to a source, the man who identified himself as Jacob Hawk called in to a radio station via a number with a 336 area code (North Carolina) but said he was in Lacey, Washington. The Instagram post with the alleged screenshot shows “Little Rock, Arkansas” as the location.
• The identity of the alleged fiancée was not known. Hawk claimed her name was “Jenny” but did not provide a surname. No one on social media had revealed her identity. At @drake_wedding, visitors are told Jenny's account is now "@cannot_reply" and is set to private. There, she is identified as "Jenny Hawk soon to be." Before it was set to private, the account included a post that used the same ripped-off photo of a couple's hands as seen in the profile of @jacobhawk22.