Punked

The Herald reports:

An Instagram picture which appeared to show the Prime Minister’s son Max Key with a suspected felon turned out to be a teenage hoax.

Max Key this week posted a picture online of himself at a golf course with whom he claimed was Dan Bilzerian, an American trust fund beneficiary, poker player and part-time actor who is facing criminal charges in the US.

“Having a hack with @danbilzerian”, the photograph’s caption says.

The picture fooled a few observers, including the Herald, TVNZ and others.

Commenters on the Instagram picture ranged from confused – “Is that him?” – to disgusted.

Kiwi singer Lorde expressed her distaste below the photograph: “Bleugh”.

The bearded person is actually a friend of Max’s who has a strikingly similar appearance to Bilzerian.

Maybe the lesson for the media is that pictures on a teenager’s Instagram feed are not really news.

A rather good punking.