Hacker News Reader

Comment by slg | Hacker News Reader

A rapper who wanted to promote their video created a fake C&D and corresponding warning video, uploaded the video to Youtube, parked his car on the highway, and played the video on the screen all as a "prank" to promote said video. You could do that all in an afternoon. That doesn't seem that unbelievable, especially considering half the runtime of the linked video is an ad for his music. I mean the guy is already at a buying a Cybertruck and rapping about it level of needing attention. Is stretching the truth for promotion really that big of a step from there?

View on HN

I feel like if that was the angle the song would have been anti-Tesla to use that as part of the whole thing, and not 'I am cool because I have this cool and expensive car'.

This doesn't have to be some elaborate plan. What I described could be accomplished in an afternoon, maybe after the initial pro-Tesla release didn't get enough attention.

Doesn't matter if it's simple. What you're suggesting goes completely against the guy's vibe. No one finding him as a new fan is going to be "I can't wait to be a fan of a guy who acted tough/rich and then got stranded roadside by faking a video." I'd be surprised if someone with the gumption to play-act like this in a music video would enjoy completely flipping things to play victim, rather than finding some other attention-grabbing scheme.

If your entire argument rests around the implied inconsistency of a rapper's "vibe", it doesn't sound like you have a very strong argument.

Odds are we'll eventually know the truth, but early indications are that I am right.[1]

[1] - https://www.theverge.com/tesla/757594/tesla-cybertruck-deact...

It seems like a straightforward defamation case for Tesla if the whole thing is fake.

And remotely disabling a vehicle as it is being driven seems like a straightforward lawsuit if this whole thing is true. Who is more likely to make a stupid legal mistake that opens themselves up to a lawsuit, the random musician or the legal department of one of the biggest companies on the planet?

IP lawyers take dubious and aggressive measures to defend their clients without fully considering the implications of their actions all the time.

And remotely disabling a moving vehicle is so commonplace at this company that even the IP lawyers have direct access to that functionality without any oversight? This potential lawsuit is getting easier and easier.

I suspect we'll find out in short order since Tesla can pretty trivially deny that it happened and it's probably going to be picked up by a lot of media.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com