It looks like this is not the only case. I do think that Celebrities are a greater target for these sort of jokes and false information. I”ve even had to remove more blatantly false information from the same article I wrote about today.

In December of 2005, I was involved in a discussion about Turducken, which soon turned ridiculous. I made the claim that an abomination named “turduckencorpheail” existed, posted a link to the wikipedia article on turducken, and then added the following:

Variations
“In addition to the aforementioned chuckey, some enthusiasts have taken it a step further, and come up with the turduckencorpheail. This is a standard turducken, which is then stuffed with a cornish game hen, which is then stuffed with a pheasant, and finally stuffed with a quail”

I was seeking only a quick lul or two before my entry was deleted, but to my surprise, the “Variations” section continued to grow. Obviously, some understood the joke, and continued to expound on it. I occasionally looked at the talk page, and while some of the legitimacy of the more outlandish creations was questioned, mine stood for nearly 2 years, until recently when most of the “Variations” section was removed. A Google for the term “turduckencorpheail” currently turns up ~10 pages of references. The lesson: It pays to be a skeptic.

On a related note, an acquaintance of mine works for Goldman Sachs, and according to the information that they had, it would appear that Sasha Baron Cohen has never been employed by Goldman. Of course, given my history, you may or may not choose to believe me….

Tech Debug recently pointed out a big loophole in Wikipedia’s referencing system.
Here’s how you do it:

Make up a “fact.”
Write your fact on a Wikipedia entry without citing a reference.
Wait for a journalist from some “r…