Michael J. Fox Arrested for Insider Sports Betting-Fiction!
Summary of eRumor:
Reports that are eerily similar to the plot of “Back to the Future II” claim that Michael J. Fox has been arrested for insider sports betting.
The Truth:
Don’t believe stories about Michael J. Fox being arrested for insider sports betting.
The rumor started out as a joke about Back to the Future II, but lots of people missed the punch line.
In the movie, Marty McFly (played by Michael J. Fox) travels to the future — October 21, 2015, to be exact — to prevent his nemesis, Biff Tennan, from making millions on insider sports betting. Tennan had somehow got his hands on “a sports almanac from the future” and used it to place insider sports bets during the eighties.
Because Marty McFly time traveled to October 21, 2015, in the movie, the date was celebrated (in real life) as “Back to the Future Day.” The false report about Michael J. Fox being arrested for sport betting, a parody of the movie’s plot, was part of that.
The fake news website Stubhill News played a big role in the rumor going viral. The site reported that Michael J. Fox had been arrested for inside betting on the DraftKings daily fantasy sports website:
Los Angeles—Michael J. Fox was arrested Wednesday morning in relation to insider sports betting on DraftKings.
Fox aroused suspicion after achieving a statistically-impossible, perfect record on the site under the username NoChicken.
Authorities found an unusually worn copy of a sports almanac which was just recently printed and which has markings cataloging winning bets Fox has placed since the late 80’s.
“The operating theory is that the Back to the Future films were really documentaries from an original, prime timeline,” said NASA astrophysicist Barry Manilow. “The implications are heavy. It is suspected that we are living in an alternate 2015, as there are no flying cars and there are only four Jaws movies. We can only assume that we are forever stunted as a society. The amount of lives lost due to our lack of progress in technology and medicine is unfathomable. Worst of all, instead of hoverboards, this sad reality is limited to the Swagway.”
But rest assured, Michael J. Fox has not been arrested for insider sports betting.