US-duo YACHT took to their Facebook page overnight, with a statement that they had made a sex tape, and it was leaked due to the actions of a “morally abject person”. The band announced soon after that they’d be releasing the tape on their own accord in an effort to regain control of the situation.
“We hope you understand that this is not a delicious scandal. This is an exploitation,” they wrote at the time.
“If you absolutely must see this video, we ask that you refrain from downloading it from a torrent, or streaming it on a tube site,” they added, pointing towards a new website where people could purchase the alleged tape for AU$7. “Controlling how this video is seen, and who profits from it, is the only form of agency we have left over this exploitative situation.”
The message conveyed a sort of noble decision, a move to take back control of and make some money from an alleged exploitation done upon them. They only issue is, it’s starting to look as though the whole thing could be a stunt.
As Thump notes, since the band made their post, out of all the people attempting to buy it – including this writer – no one seems to have managed to get the file. Instead we were hit with a Server Unavailable notice. As sometimes it takes 24 hours for your bank account to reflect recent transactions, it’s not clear yet if we’re actually getting billed for the transaction either.
the only person that got fucked regarding that YACHT video is me (I paid $5 and it 404'd)
— kris_tba (@kris_tba) May 9, 2016
Reddit – the front page of the internet has no idea what’s happened and 4Chan, the gateway to anything that’s leaked – has already decided that it’s not real. In fact, the only people who have seen the video seem to be friends of the band themselves.
I have to admit I bought the @YACHT sex tape https://t.co/QPVYZ3QoOI and: Woah. More of an actual turn on than most. Probably bc: true love.
— Miranda July (@Miranda_July) May 9, 2016
Jezebel claim they’ve been tipped that the band are actually gearing up to release a new video this week and used the story to get as many eyes on it as possible.
That claim is yet to be substantiated, but if there’s weight to ut, especially when considering the experiences of revenge porn victims, the concept is pretty questionable. And if this is a PR stunt, at least some of the eyes YACHT have attracted will be glaring at them.
https://twitter.com/shaaddsouza/status/729906028167372800
YACHT are yet to respond to any of the questions levelled at the whole situation and, at this point, we’re all still speculating as to the veracity of their statement.
UPDATE 11/05/16: YACHT have attempted to defend their actions after their ‘stolen sex tape’ story was revealed to be fake.
UPDATE 12/05/16: YACHT have attempted to apologise again for the fake story and for their previous “shitty non-apology”.
