Where did Glenn Beck Rape & Murder Hoax come from?

The structure originated with Gilbert Gottfried's bit at the 2008 Comedy Central roast of Bob Saget. Fark user oddweevil applied it to Beck on August 31, 2009, and Florida student Isaac Eiland-Hall launched the website the next day.

What does Glenn Beck Rape & Murder Hoax mean?

The hoax forces its target to disprove a negative, parodying the exact rhetorical tactic Beck used against guests on his Fox News show. The website never claims the accusation is true, only that Beck has never explicitly denied it.

How do you use Glenn Beck Rape & Murder Hoax?

The format shows up across the original site, YouTube clips with text-to-speech voiceovers staging Beck 'confessions', and a companion site that asks whether Beck has denied the charge yet. Every version demands the question be asked, never the accusation affirmed.

Is Glenn Beck Rape & Murder Hoax still popular?

The site stayed online at GB1990.com after Eiland-Hall gave the original domain to Beck in late 2009. The hoax is widely cited as a case study in internet smear campaigns and WIPO parody fair-use rulings.

Glenn Beck Rape & Murder Hoax

Q: What is Glenn Beck Rape & Murder Hoax?

Glenn Beck Rape & Murder Hoax is a 2009 parody website and viral smear campaign that accused the Fox News host of raping and murdering a girl in 1990 to mock Beck's own habit of asking guests to disprove absurd accusations.

2009parody website / internet hoaxclassic

Published November 9, 2026

Glenn Beck Rape & Murder Hoax is a 2009 internet smear campaign that accused the Fox News host of raping and murdering a girl in 1990, parodying Beck's own habit of asking guests to disprove absurd claims. Florida student Isaac Eiland-Hall registered the joke domain on September 1, 2009, and after Reddit and Digg traffic sent it viral, Beck filed a WIPO trademark complaint that he lost by October 29, 2009.

hoax memes single serving site memes political satire memes streisand effect memes late 2000s memes

Overview

Glenn Beck Rape & Murder Hoax operates as a tightly managed rhetorical loop. Every page of GlennBeckRapedAndMurderedAYoungGirlIn1990.com openly stated the author made no claim Beck actually committed the crime, only that Beck had never publicly denied it1. Visitors were urged to help answer the question in the title and never to repeat the accusation, a sanctimonious hedge that mirrored Beck's own TV interview style6.

Supporting content included YouTube clips that spliced edited Beck radio and TV audio with text-to-speech voiceovers to stage mock confessions7. A companion domain, HasGlennBeckDeniedRapingAndMurderingAYoungGirlIn1990.com, logged Beck's running non-denial, and the site's forum extended the bit with fake victim bios and fabricated evidence1.

Gallery

Origin & Background

Platform

Fark (catalyst) / standalone website (viral spread)

Creator

Isaac Eiland-Hall

Date

2009

Gilbert Gottfried's bit at Comedy Central's August 2008 roast of Bob Saget provided the template: he claimed there were rumors Saget was an unconvicted rapist and murderer, then warned the audience never to spread them6. On August 31, 2009, Fark commenter oddweevil adapted the same structure to Glenn Beck in a thread about Beck's partnership with Sarah Palin, and replies piled on fake speculation about a 1990 incident2.

Florida college student Isaac Eiland-Hall read the Fark thread and registered GlennBeckRapedAndMurderedAYoungGirlIn1990.com. The single-serving site went live on September 1, 20091.

How It Spread

The same day the site launched, Redditor smooshie linked to it on r/politics, where the post hit the front page with over 5,300 upvotes3. A duplicate submission landed on Digg4. A Google bombing effort briefly made 'Glenn Beck murder' the top autocomplete suggestion for a 'Glenn Beck' search6.

About.com's Urban Legends column covered the hoax on September 3, 2009, calling it a textbook example of internet smear construction5. Beck's legal team then filed a trademark complaint with WIPO to seize the domain. On October 29, 2009, the arbitrator ruled Eiland-Hall's use was legitimate non-commercial parody protected by the First Amendment, and refused to transfer the name1.

After the ruling, Eiland-Hall voluntarily handed GlennBeckRapedAndMurderedAYoungGirlIn1990.com over to Beck in an open letter, while the Glenn Beck Rape & Murder Hoax site stayed live at the shorter GB1990.com1.

Timeline

2008-08

Gilbert Gottfried tells the 'unconvicted rapist and murderer' joke at the Comedy Central roast of Bob Saget, providing the template later copied onto Beck.

2009-08-31

Fark user oddweevil adapts the Gottfried joke to Glenn Beck in a comment on a Palin/Beck thread.

2009-09-01

Isaac Eiland-Hall launches GlennBeckRapedAndMurderedAYoungGirlIn1990.com; Redditor smooshie's r/politics link hits the front page with 5,300+ upvotes.

2009-09-03

About.com's Urban Legends column covers the hoax and calls it a textbook internet smear construction.

2009-10-29

WIPO rules in favor of Eiland-Hall, finding the site a legitimate non-commercial parody of the Glenn Beck trademark.

2009-11

Eiland-Hall voluntarily hands the disputed domain to Beck in an open letter and moves the site to GB1990.com.

How to Use This Meme

The joke works only if the writer never affirms the accusation. Posts, pages and video edits ask the question, demand a denial, and point out the silence, while explicitly disclaiming belief in the underlying rumor. Mock 'admissions' are built by splicing real Beck audio with text-to-speech lines or dubbed clips, never a straight fabrication7.