Shortly after Meg White bailed on the White Stripes tour, a supposed sex tape of her surfaced on the Internet. Denials flew fast and furious; although the dark-haired woman in the video kinda looked like White, her camp eagerly declared it a hoax. Again, one couldn't help but think of Zeppelin, who indulged in plenty of on-the-road shenanigans of their own. If such a tape had been circulated back in 1976, the band probably wouldn't have confirmed or denied it. The reality mattered less than the myth. The fans knew rock stars were larger than life—and that the audience wanted both them and their music to stay that way.

Translated: "That Meg White, ain't she a pussy?" Because, you know, having people think that they're watching a grainy Webcam video of you getting fucked from behind that someone had (possibly maliciously!) leaked is equivalent to having people spread, by word-of-mouth, a rumor that may or may not be true about you making a groupie look like the dumb slut she is. It's such a laughable analogy that the only reason I can think of it coming up is that the powers that be at TNR decided their Web site needed some "meg white sex tape"-enabled hits. Or does Browne's subtext really boil down to "ew, girls, get out of rock, you are not tough enough!" Or did he just think that the sex tape needed more fish?

Whole Lotta Love [TNR]

maura@idolator: so do you think the meg white sex tape is legit
unidentified_lurker: oh my god where did you see that?
unidentified_lurker: i mean i've seen it
maura@idolator: it was on google trends
unidentified_lurker: i'm saying who is purporting it's legit
unidentified_lurker: it's a message board joke
unidentified_lurker: i was thinking about forwarding it to you
unidentified_lurker: as a funny joke
unidentified_lurker: it's great to have a video on the internet for indie rock people to jerk off and pretend it's meg white tho

And we all know how that turned out. Anyway, The Daily Swarm plumbed the archives of the message board Hipinion and found where the clip was born—the mind of a poster named Itsmecraig:

On Monday, September 17, at 6:17 AM, a long-time member of the Hipinion forum community started a thread entitled MEG WHITE SEX TAPE with a simple link to a homemade porn video featuring a female sex partner who bore more than a passing resemblance to a certain rock and roll drummer. A brief 8-hour, 40-post debate ensued over the authenticity of its subject - with many of the same jokes that were soon to be made all over the world - before the thread slipped into the archives.

Until yesterday. You know what happened next.

What did "Itsmecraig" have to say about it after the story broke wide open? Here it is straight from the horse's mouth:

oh shit dudes,

i found this video through random wank mining efforts and put it up here cause i figured you guys would have a laugh. it had nothing to do with meg white when i found it.

And look what happened. People, this is what happens when you believe what you read on the Internet—unless, of course, it's from friends who you are drunkenly instant-messaging with late at night and who are on their shit, as my lurky, unidentified friend who gave me a scoop that I am kicking myself for not following up on is.

(Also, I seriously should have Googled the filename of the clip as a way to figure out just where the hell it came from. Let this be a lesson to us all.)

Back to the source: 'Itsmecraig' started the Meg White sex tape scandal [The Daily Swarm]

Moe Tkacik, Jezebel:
"I definitely think that Meg White is stupid enough to film herself having sex. I did not expect her to have the stomach rolls, because she seemed to be doing the celebrity shrinkage thing, but when was this allegedly shot? It's kind of disappointing as a piece of filmography but not bad as porn goes."

Christopher Weingarten, Paper Thin Walls editor:
"No one thinks it's real. Indie rock people aren't fucking stupid. (Ed. note: I doubt that VERY HIGHLY.) This is the indie-rock equivalent of having a Saudi prince ask you to hold his money for him, except you can jerk off to it. Also, only really famous people are stupid enough to tape themselves having sex."

Matthew Perpetua, blogger and White Stripes fan:
"I really really doubt it. I mean, she's got a recognizable face, but you know, there's a lot of stacked girls with dark hair and a pale complexion out there making sex tapes. Maybe she's trying to make Jack White angry, and this is her way of doing it?"

Maria Tessa Sciarrino, blogger and photographer:
""If I didn't know Logan Echolls was living in a swank hotel, I would have wagered this was a deleted scene from the "President Evil" episode of Veronica Mars."

Jess Harvell, my other half:
"Zzzzzz."

Meanwhile, the comments sections of Brooklyn Vegan and Stereogum are half-rubberneckers, half-morally outraged types who probably watched the damn thing anyway. And if you're unemployed/"freelancing," feel free to watch the whole thing (link to ONTD, which links to a NSFW page) and vote in our poll:

Gawker Media polls require Javascript; if you're viewing this in an RSS reader, click through to view in your Javascript-enabled web browser.

Meg White's Sex Tape? [ONTD]