Media hoaxed by fake Ryan Seacrest interview

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Media hoaxed by fake Ryan Seacrest interview
On Thursday the Trentonian newspaper reported about a New Jersey radio DJ who had a heated exchange with Ryan Seacrest about whether or not he was gay. From the story:

"Ryan," Carton said, "Are you gay?"
Silence.
"Ryan, are you a homosexual?"
With that, Seacrest was headed for the door.
"I can’t stay here, man," Seacrest said. "I gotta jet."
The "American Idol" star stormed out of the studio and into the NJ-101.5 offices, but he was coaxed back into the studio with the understanding that the rest of the interview would center on the television show and not on his personal life.
"This was supposed to be about the show, about ‘American Idol,’" Seacrest said when he returned to the air.
Co-host Ray Rossi, an admitted "Idol" fan, was ready to move on, but Carton wouldn’t let up.
"Are you gonna walk out again if I ask you about it?" Carton asked Seacrest.
"Absolutely. I’m outta here," said Seacrest.
Immediately, Carton asked "Are you gay?" "You know," Seacrest said, "I don’t know why I trusted you."
And, again, Seacrest was out the door, this time for good.

Pretty shocking, huh? Well, it was a prank. That wasn't Seacrest on the air; it was an impersonator. As a story in Newsday noted, this isn't the first time this radio show has pulled a prank. "During yesterday's show, Carton recalled the duo's interview three years ago with singer Bobby Darin, who had died 30 years earlier," it noted. "Carton also promised that listeners can expect another scam three years from now."
As is frequently the case, the story spread from the Trentonian to other papers such as the Philly Daily News and Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Gawker also noted the item. The DJ later revealed the interview was a fake, causing several outlets to run corrections. We've noted some below. One problem, however, is that the Trentonian's original, incorrect story is still on their site without any correction appended. (The paper did run a corrective article, which is excerpted below.)

Dan Gross would like to apologize to Ryan Seacrest and to Daily News readers for an incorrect report in his Thursday column. It was not Seacrest, the host of Fox’s “American Idol,” who stormed out of an interview with New Jersey 101.5 Wednesday afternoon. It was an imposter. “Jersey Guys” hosts Craig Carton and Ray Rossi were interviewing a Seacrest impersonator when they repeatedly asked whether the TV star were gay.

The radio hosts yesterday acknowledged the prank, which was covered on the front page of the Trentonian, and also led to a flood of media calls to New Jersey 101.5 yesterday.

“It’s nice to know a radio station can still pull off a stunt like this…We can take anyone down…it’s within our power. The Washington Post wanted to do a front-page story for tomorrow. That’s the power the Jersey Guys have,” the megalomaniacal Carton said.

Carton also poked fun at Gross for the erroneous report and said “I wouldn’t want to be that guy today.” Neither would we.

Seacrest’s publicist Meredith O’Sullivan told Gross yesterday her client has never done an interview with New Jersey 101.5, but had nothing else to say about the radio prank.