Martin Eisenstadt
Encyclopedia
The Martin Eisenstadt hoax is an elaborate scheme of filmmakers Dan Mirvish
and Eitan Gorlin
that involved the creation of a fictional "talking head", Martin Eisenstadt, who was quoted by numerous major news outlets (such as the Los Angeles Times
and MSNBC
), as well as countless blogs, all of which failed to verify his actual existence. "Eisenstadt" claimed to be the source of commentary about Sarah Palin
in the wake of John McCain
's 2008 Presidential Campaign
. Mirvish and Gorlin have since written a satirical novel called I Am Martin Eisenstadt: One Man's (Wildly Inappropriate) Adventures with the Last Republicans for Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN 978-0865479142. The book was written under Eisenstadt's pseudonym and purports to be a first-person memoir of Eisenstadt's experience with the McCain/Palin campaign, including buying Palin's wardrobe. In the book, the Eisenstadt character denies rumors that he does not exist.
, with Gorlin playing a parking valet, Sheldon, who spewed effusive (and offensive) praise of then-presidential candidate Rudolph Giuliani. The original short film Sheldon played at the U.S. Comedy Arts Film Festival in Aspen in 2007. After Giuliani's campaign ceased, the character was modified to be a Sr. Fellow at the "Harding Institute for Freedom and Democracy", a fictional entity named in jest for one of the least-respected US presidents, Warren G. Harding
. The pair created a website for the Harding Institute, created the character of the commentator, dubbed Martin Eisenstadt, played again by Gorlin.
Dan Mirvish is a former speechwriter for Democratic Senator Tom Harkin
. He is also a feature film director and co-founder of the Slamdance Film Festival
. Gorlin was nominated for the Someone to Watch Award at the 2003 IFP Independent Spirit Awards for his film The Holy Land.
, describing his plan to build casino
s in the Green Zone
. The report was accepted at face value and blogged by Jonathan Stein of Mother Jones
, but correctly and tentatively identified as satire
by the Monthly Review
. By this point, Brazilian-based golf blogger William Wolfram had already extensively researched Eisenstadt and concluded he did not exist.
During and after the election campaign, several hoaxes perpetrated by Eisenstadt (Gorlin and Mirvish) were reported by news organizations and blogs as truthful, including reports that Joe the Plumber
was a cousin of Charles Keating
and that Paris Hilton
's family strongly protested the McCain campaign's comparison of Barack Obama
to Hilton.
After election day, 2008, it was widely reported that a senior McCain advisor had stated that Palin was unaware that Africa
was a continent rather than a country. After the story broke, Mirvish and Gorlin released a video where Eisenstadt, reportedly a McCain policy adviser, made that statement. Mirvish and Gorlin said that they did not invent the story but only took the credit for it after it broke as being the source. Several mainstream news outlets publicised this attribution.
The AP, noting that "Eisenstadt's 'work' had been quoted and debunked before," reported that the hoax "was limited to the identity of the source in the story about Palin - not the Fox News story itself." Mirvish himself, in a BBC
interview, admits that they falsely took credit as being the source, but stated that the story itself could be true.
According to Mirvish it would have taken "about 20 seconds of searching to realize Eisenstadt was a hoax." "With the 24-hour news cycle
they rush into anything they can find" added Mirvish. The hoax revealed lack of fact-checking by news outlets such as MSNBC. An MSNBC spokesman stated that someone in the newsroom received the item in an e-mail, and that no vetting was ever done on it.
In May 2009, Time (magazine)
reported that Eisenstadt was one of the "elite Twitterati" who attended the White House Correspondents Dinner, along with Meghan McCain
, Ashton Kutcher
, and Newt Gingrich
. Time later retracted its original reporting.
. The authors went on a book tour that included a Washington, DC, party thrown for them by former President Bill Clinton
press secretary Joe Lockhart
and other Washington notables including Karen Finney, Matthew Cooper (American journalist)
and Michael Feldman
.
The filmmakers had planned to develop The Bitter Valet into a TV series, but due to the 2008 Writers Guild Strike, they shelved that plan and came up with the Martin Eisenstadt character. The first thing they filmed with Eisenstadt was the alleged interview on Iraqi TV, which was actually filmed in Mirvish's garage in California.
During the fall of 2008, Gorlin and Mirvish filmed a fake 40-minute BBC documentary entitled "The Last Republican," which they then posted on YouTube in 10 parts. They also filmed four rebuttals allegedly from Martin Eisenstadt in Washington, DC, in which Eisenstadt threatened to sue the documentarian and the BBC for taking him out of context. In fact, the filmmakers later admitted that "The Last Republican" was actually a pilot for a television show they were developing.
, who once apologized for his presidency by saying "I am not fit for this office and should never have been here." Awarded in a ceremony at American University
, Gorlin (as Martin Eisenstadt) presented the Harding Prizes in several categories: Rahm Emanuel
won for Politics, Tiger Woods
for Sports, Usher
for Entertainment, and Adam Corolla won in the best Twitter apology category.
Dan Mirvish
Dan Mirvish is an American filmmaker and author, best known as the co-founder of the Slamdance Film Festival and co-creator of the Martin Eisenstadt hoax during the 2008 Presidential election...
and Eitan Gorlin
Eitan Gorlin
Eitan Gorlin is a filmmaker, author and actor. He is known for his portrayal of Martin Eisenstadt, a satirical depiction of a McCain campaign adviser...
that involved the creation of a fictional "talking head", Martin Eisenstadt, who was quoted by numerous major news outlets (such as the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
and MSNBC
MSNBC
MSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States available in the US, Germany , South Africa, the Middle East and Canada...
), as well as countless blogs, all of which failed to verify his actual existence. "Eisenstadt" claimed to be the source of commentary about Sarah Palin
Sarah Palin
Sarah Louise Palin is an American politician, commentator and author. As the Republican Party nominee for Vice President in the 2008 presidential election, she was the first Alaskan on the national ticket of a major party and first Republican woman nominated for the vice-presidency.She was...
in the wake of John McCain
John McCain
John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....
's 2008 Presidential Campaign
John McCain presidential campaign, 2008
John McCain, the senior United States Senator from Arizona, launched his second candidacy for the presidency of the United States in an unsuccessful bid to win the 2008 presidential election. His candidacy, in the works for a number of years, was informally announced on February 28, 2007 during a...
. Mirvish and Gorlin have since written a satirical novel called I Am Martin Eisenstadt: One Man's (Wildly Inappropriate) Adventures with the Last Republicans for Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Farrar, Straus and Giroux is an American book publishing company, founded in 1946 by Roger W. Straus, Jr. and John C. Farrar. Known primarily as Farrar, Straus in its first decade of existence, the company was renamed several times, including Farrar, Straus and Young and Farrar, Straus and Cudahy...
ISBN 978-0865479142. The book was written under Eisenstadt's pseudonym and purports to be a first-person memoir of Eisenstadt's experience with the McCain/Palin campaign, including buying Palin's wardrobe. In the book, the Eisenstadt character denies rumors that he does not exist.
Background
In 2007, Mirvish and Gorlin created short videos for YouTubeYouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
, with Gorlin playing a parking valet, Sheldon, who spewed effusive (and offensive) praise of then-presidential candidate Rudolph Giuliani. The original short film Sheldon played at the U.S. Comedy Arts Film Festival in Aspen in 2007. After Giuliani's campaign ceased, the character was modified to be a Sr. Fellow at the "Harding Institute for Freedom and Democracy", a fictional entity named in jest for one of the least-respected US presidents, Warren G. Harding
Warren G. Harding
Warren Gamaliel Harding was the 29th President of the United States . A Republican from Ohio, Harding was an influential self-made newspaper publisher. He served in the Ohio Senate , as the 28th Lieutenant Governor of Ohio and as a U.S. Senator...
. The pair created a website for the Harding Institute, created the character of the commentator, dubbed Martin Eisenstadt, played again by Gorlin.
Dan Mirvish is a former speechwriter for Democratic Senator Tom Harkin
Tom Harkin
Thomas Richard "Tom" Harkin is the junior United States Senator from Iowa and a member of the Democratic Party. He previously served in the United States House of Representatives ....
. He is also a feature film director and co-founder of the Slamdance Film Festival
Slamdance Film Festival
As a year-round organization, Slamdance serves as a showcase for the discovery of new and emerging talent in the film industry; it is also the only major film festival fully programmed by filmmakers. Slamdance counts among its alumni many notable writers and directors who first gained notice at the...
. Gorlin was nominated for the Someone to Watch Award at the 2003 IFP Independent Spirit Awards for his film The Holy Land.
The Hoaxes
The first appearance of Martin Eisenstadt was in a video of a phony interview, purportedly on Al IraqiyaAl Iraqiya
Al Iraqiya is a satellite and terrestrial public broadcaster and television network in Iraq that was set up after the fall of Sadaam Hussein. It is an Arabic language network that serves upwards of 85% of Iraq's population, and is viewed by a significant percentage .The channel began under the...
, describing his plan to build casino
Casino
In modern English, a casino is a facility which houses and accommodates certain types of gambling activities. Casinos are most commonly built near or combined with hotels, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships or other tourist attractions...
s in the Green Zone
Green Zone
The Green Zone is the most common name for the International Zone of Baghdad. It is a area of central Baghdad, Iraq, that was the governmental center of the Coalition Provisional Authority and remains the center of the international presence in the city...
. The report was accepted at face value and blogged by Jonathan Stein of Mother Jones
Mother Jones (magazine)
Mother Jones is an American independent news organization, featuring investigative and breaking news reporting on politics, the environment, human rights, and culture. Mother Jones has been nominated for 23 National Magazine Awards and has won six times, including for General Excellence in 2001,...
, but correctly and tentatively identified as satire
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
by the Monthly Review
Monthly Review
Monthly Review is an independent Marxist journal published 11 times per year in New York City.-History:The publication was founded by Harvard University economics instructor Paul Sweezy, who became the first editor...
. By this point, Brazilian-based golf blogger William Wolfram had already extensively researched Eisenstadt and concluded he did not exist.
During and after the election campaign, several hoaxes perpetrated by Eisenstadt (Gorlin and Mirvish) were reported by news organizations and blogs as truthful, including reports that Joe the Plumber
Joe the Plumber
Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher , is a conservative activist, author, and commentator. A resident of Holland, Ohio, United States, he gained significant attention during the 2008 U.S. presidential election after he was videotaped questioning then-Democratic candidate Barack Obama about his small...
was a cousin of Charles Keating
Charles Keating
Charles Humphrey Keating Jr. is an American athlete, lawyer, real estate developer, banker, and financier, most known for his role in the savings and loan scandal of the late 1980s....
and that Paris Hilton
Paris Hilton
Paris Whitney Hilton is an American businesswoman, heiress, and socialite. She is a great-granddaughter of Conrad Hilton . Hilton is known for her controversial participation in a sex tape in 2003, and appearance on the television series The Simple Life alongside fellow socialite and childhood...
's family strongly protested the McCain campaign's comparison of Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
to Hilton.
After election day, 2008, it was widely reported that a senior McCain advisor had stated that Palin was unaware that Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
was a continent rather than a country. After the story broke, Mirvish and Gorlin released a video where Eisenstadt, reportedly a McCain policy adviser, made that statement. Mirvish and Gorlin said that they did not invent the story but only took the credit for it after it broke as being the source. Several mainstream news outlets publicised this attribution.
The AP, noting that "Eisenstadt's 'work' had been quoted and debunked before," reported that the hoax "was limited to the identity of the source in the story about Palin - not the Fox News story itself." Mirvish himself, in a BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
interview, admits that they falsely took credit as being the source, but stated that the story itself could be true.
According to Mirvish it would have taken "about 20 seconds of searching to realize Eisenstadt was a hoax." "With the 24-hour news cycle
24-hour news cycle
The 24-hour news cycle arrived with the advent of television channels dedicated to news, and brought about a much faster pace of news production with increased demand for stories that can be presented as news, as opposed to the day-by-day pace of the news cycle of printed daily newspapers...
they rush into anything they can find" added Mirvish. The hoax revealed lack of fact-checking by news outlets such as MSNBC. An MSNBC spokesman stated that someone in the newsroom received the item in an e-mail, and that no vetting was ever done on it.
In May 2009, Time (magazine)
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
reported that Eisenstadt was one of the "elite Twitterati" who attended the White House Correspondents Dinner, along with Meghan McCain
Meghan McCain
Meghan Marguerite McCain is an American columnist, author, and blogger. She is a daughter of U.S. Senator John McCain and Cindy Hensley McCain. McCain first received media attention in 2007 for her blog, McCain Blogette, on which she documented life on the campaign trail and mused about...
, Ashton Kutcher
Ashton Kutcher
Christopher Ashton Kutcher , best known as Ashton Kutcher, is an American actor, producer, former fashion model and comedian, best known for his portrayal of Michael Kelso in the Fox sitcom That '70s Show...
, and Newt Gingrich
Newt Gingrich
Newton Leroy "Newt" Gingrich is a U.S. Republican Party politician who served as the House Minority Whip from 1989 to 1995 and as the 58th Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999....
. Time later retracted its original reporting.
The Book
Mirvish and Gorlin wrote the book I Am Martin Eisenstadt: One Man's (wildly inappropriate) Adventures with the Last Republicans which was published in November, 2009, by Farrar, Straus and GirouxFarrar, Straus and Giroux
Farrar, Straus and Giroux is an American book publishing company, founded in 1946 by Roger W. Straus, Jr. and John C. Farrar. Known primarily as Farrar, Straus in its first decade of existence, the company was renamed several times, including Farrar, Straus and Young and Farrar, Straus and Cudahy...
. The authors went on a book tour that included a Washington, DC, party thrown for them by former President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
press secretary Joe Lockhart
Joe Lockhart
Joseph Lockhart is a spokesman and communications consultant, best known for being the White House Press Secretary from October 5, 1998 to September 29, 2000, during the administration of U.S. President Bill Clinton...
and other Washington notables including Karen Finney, Matthew Cooper (American journalist)
Matthew Cooper (American journalist)
Matthew Cooper is a former reporter for Time who, along with New York Times reporter Judith Miller was held in contempt of court and threatened with imprisonment for refusing to testify before the Grand Jury regarding the Valerie Plame CIA leak investigation. He currently works as the managing...
and Michael Feldman
Michael Feldman
Michael Feldman is an American radio personality. He is the host of Michael Feldman's Whad'Ya Know?, a radio program distributed by Public Radio International...
.
The Videos
Mirvish and Gorlin's first collaboration was a promo for a videogame for Mirvish's film Open House. The character they created turned into Sheldon, the bitter valet, for the eponymously titled short film that screened at the 2007 U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen. The duo shot seven more similar shorts and posted them anonymously on YouTube as faux Rudolph Giuliani ads during early primary season for the 2008 U.S. Presidential campaign. The Giuliani campaign denied any involvement with the ads. The ads created their own controversy when the consulting company who had produced the Swift Boat ads of 2004 was erroneously blamed for them under the assumption they were some sort of dirty tricks campaign by one of Giuliani's rivals.The filmmakers had planned to develop The Bitter Valet into a TV series, but due to the 2008 Writers Guild Strike, they shelved that plan and came up with the Martin Eisenstadt character. The first thing they filmed with Eisenstadt was the alleged interview on Iraqi TV, which was actually filmed in Mirvish's garage in California.
During the fall of 2008, Gorlin and Mirvish filmed a fake 40-minute BBC documentary entitled "The Last Republican," which they then posted on YouTube in 10 parts. They also filmed four rebuttals allegedly from Martin Eisenstadt in Washington, DC, in which Eisenstadt threatened to sue the documentarian and the BBC for taking him out of context. In fact, the filmmakers later admitted that "The Last Republican" was actually a pilot for a television show they were developing.
The Harding Prize for Best Crafted Apologies
In April, 2010, Mirvish and Gorlin created an award called "The Harding Prize for Best Crafted Apology" named after President Warren G. HardingWarren G. Harding
Warren Gamaliel Harding was the 29th President of the United States . A Republican from Ohio, Harding was an influential self-made newspaper publisher. He served in the Ohio Senate , as the 28th Lieutenant Governor of Ohio and as a U.S. Senator...
, who once apologized for his presidency by saying "I am not fit for this office and should never have been here." Awarded in a ceremony at American University
American University
American University is a private, Methodist, liberal arts, and research university in Washington, D.C. The university was chartered by an Act of Congress on December 5, 1892 as "The American University", which was approved by President Benjamin Harrison on February 24, 1893...
, Gorlin (as Martin Eisenstadt) presented the Harding Prizes in several categories: Rahm Emanuel
Rahm Emanuel
Rahm Israel Emanuel is an American politician and the 55th and current Mayor of Chicago. He was formerly White House Chief of Staff to President Barack Obama...
won for Politics, Tiger Woods
Tiger Woods
Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods is an American professional golfer whose achievements to date rank him among the most successful golfers of all time. Formerly the World No...
for Sports, Usher
Usher (entertainer)
Usher Terry Raymond IV , who performs under the mononym Usher, is an American singer-songwriter, and actor. He is considered around the world to be the reigning King of R&B. Usher rose to fame in the late 1990s with the release of his second album My Way, which spawned his first Billboard Hot 100...
for Entertainment, and Adam Corolla won in the best Twitter apology category.