Yacht Finally Issue a Real Apology For Their Leaked Sex Tape Hoax

After faking a sex tape leak to promote their new single, Yacht finally apologizes.

Yacht band

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Yacht band

Photo by Ricky Tompkins

Earlier this week, Yacht—a pop duo made of Claire L. Evans and Jona Bechtolt—announced that a private sex tape of theirs had been leaked. “We have commenced legal proceedings against the individual who made it available without our consent,” they stated on Facebook. “That said, we don’t have any illusion that this tape is ever going to vanish completely from the internet. Instead, we’ve created a platform for you to purchase and download the video directly from us.”

The duo was commended for reclaiming power in a seemingly embarrassing and personal situation, but soon after the news started spreading, it was revealed that the whole thing was a hoax. Jezebel had the proof in the form of an email sent from the duo to members of the press: “For the upcoming music video for our song, ‘I Wanna Fuck You Til I’m Dead,’ we’re faking a sex tape leak. In the days leading up to the video’s release, we’re going to pretend we were hacked, share and delete confessional social media posts on the subject of our privacy, then try to ‘get out in front of it’ and sell the sex tape, fake a server crash, etc.”

The backlash was immediate, and many pointed out that the band’s publicity stunt made light of revenge porn, an increasingly common issue. In their initial statement after the leak was revealed to be fake, Yacht seemed surprised and confused by the negative reaction. They called the media’s reaction “irresponsible” and didn’t see how their strategy could be tied to something so “unfunny, disgusting, morally repugnant, and completely unrelated.”

Today, after giving more thought to it, Yacht issued a new statement apologizing for their error in judgment. They now take full responsibility. “We should not have hinged this entire project on the fiction that we were the victims of a leaked tape, and we’re equally disappointed in ourselves for taking so long to get over being shocked at the response and write this apology,” the apology reads. “PS: We’re sorry for our shitty non-apology yesterday, too. There’s no justifying it. We clearly didn’t get it then. We get it now.”


Read their full apology below:

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yacht-sextape-apology

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