YOUR FRIENDS' ACTIVITY

    Trending Now

    School for Deaf Children Receives $50,000 after Internet Prank Backfires

    By | Trending Now – Tue, Oct 2, 2012

    When it comes to Internet pranks, sometimes they are good-natured, harmless, and fun, but then there are those pranks designed to be mean-spirited. One of the latest Internet pranks involves country music superstar Taylor Swift and a contest for a concert giveaway to the school with the most Facebook votes. Mischievous members of the Internet community known as 4chan and some members of social news site Reddit banded together to have Horace Mann School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, located in the Allston neighborhood of Boston, win the Papa John's and Chegg's-sponsored free concert.

    More than 14,000 schools participated in the contest to have Taylor Swift perform on their campus. Thousands of people voted for the Horace Mann School, and when principal Jeremiah Ford heard about the prank, he was not offended. Instead Ford said that even though his students are disabled, a Taylor Swift concert would be a welcome event for the student body because his students love live music. Ford also said that coming in as a runner-up would still be a victory for his school, despite some of the votes coming from mean-spirited pranksters.

    So it appears the mean-spirited prank may have backfired. Even though the school took itself out of the running for the concert, shortly after the prank began, the school, Taylor Swift, and the concert's sponsors came to an agreement. Twift donated $10,000 to the school and free tickets to every Horace Mann student for her next Boston show. Contest sponsors Chegg, a textbook company, and Papa John's, as well as American Greetings and Cover Girl, each chipped in $10,000 -- making the total amount of donations $50,000.

    In addition, VH1's Save the Music program will give Horace Munn School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing $10,000 worth of free instruments for its students. And though the school was not the official winner of the contest, perhaps the school won after all, with the outpouring of love and support.

    Like us on Facebook.com/TrendingNow and follow Trending Now on Twitter: @Knowlesitall and @YahooTrending.

    Loading...

    News for You »

    • Steve Jobs widow: How is Laurene Powell Jobs spending her wealth?

      For most of her 20-year marriage to Steve Jobs, Laurene Powell Jobs was content to be a behind-the-scenes philanthropist.

    • What We Know About the Record Breaking Powerball Jackpot's Mystery Winner

      The frenzy for last minute tickets is over. The numbers have been picked out. Somewhere, a single person is $590.5 million richer. Last night's record Powerball jackpot has a winner but we have no idea who that person is yet. 

    • Motor racing-Women grab race spots on Bump Day at Indy

      May 19 (Reuters) - The 33 car field for the Indianapolis 500 was set on Sunday with women drivers claiming three of the nine spots on offer on Bump Day. Brazil's Ana Beatriz and Britain's Pippa Mann and Katherine Legge joined Swiss Simona De Silvestro, who was among the 24 cars that qualified on Saturday for next Sunday's race. "I'm much happier than I was this time yesterday (Saturday)," said Mann, who failed to earn a spot on Pole Day at the famed Brickyard. "This was a nice, clean run. "We almost had four really nice clean laps... I'm happy right now, much less stressed than I was ...

    • Cycling-Road-Giro d'Italia classification after stage 15

      May 19 (Infostrada Sports) - Classification from Giro d'Italia after Stage 15 on Sunday 1. Vincenzo Nibali (Italy / Astana) 62:02:34" 2. Cadel Evans (Australia / BMC Racing) +1:26" 3. Rigoberto Uran (Colombia / Team Sky) +2:46" 4. Mauro Santambrogio (Italy / Vini Fantini) +2:47" 5. Michele Scarponi (Italy / Lampre) +3:53" 6. Przemyslaw Niemiec (Poland / Lampre) +4:35" 7. Carlos Betancur (Colombia / AG2R) +5:15" 8. Rafal Majka (Poland / Saxo - Tinkoff) +5:20" 9. Domenico Pozzovivo (Italy / AG2R) +5:57" 10. Benat Intxausti (Spain / Movistar) +6:21" 11. ...

    • Soccer-Ferguson criticises City for Mancini sacking

      LONDON, May 18 (Reuters) - Manchester United's outgoing manager Alex Ferguson has criticised neighbours Manchester City for sacking Roberto Mancini. The Italian boss was sacked on Monday having failed to retain the Premier League title he won last season and after losing the FA Cup final to Wigan Athletic. Mancini took out a full-page advertisement in the Manchester Evening News on Saturday, thanking fans for their support during his time in charge. ...

    • British man in France admits slitting his two children's throats

      LYON, France (Reuters) - A British father living in France has admitted to killing his two children by slitting their throats, blaming a rocky divorce from his wife, prosecutors said on Sunday. Police arrested the 48-year-old unemployed man on Saturday after the bodies of his 5-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son were found at his apartment in a suburb of the eastern city of Lyon. "He offered explanations linked to the children's custody," an official from the Lyon prosecutor's office told Reuters. ...

    • Marine daughter seeks dignity for 'Devil Dog pups'

      JACKSONVILLE, N.C. (AP) — As she flipped through the cemetery register, Mary Blakely's eyes filled with tears. On line after line, the entry read simply "Baby Boy" or "Baby Girl," followed by a surname and a burial date.

    • After nearly 30 years, Camp Lejeune coming clean

      CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. (AP) — Purple wildflowers sprout in abundance around the bright-yellow pipe, one of several jutting from the sandy soil in this unassuming patch of grass and mud. A dirty hose runs from the pipe to an idling truck and into a large tank labeled, "NON-POTABLE WATER."

    Show More

    ABOUT TRENDING NOW

    Trending Now is Yahoo! News' daily newscast bringing you the news you need to know every day, from headlines to trending topics. Whether it's spiking in search, most shared on Facebook or a trending topic on Twitter, you'll be ahead of the curve with the latest, most interesting and buzzed about information. Check in here every day at 9 AM PT / 12 PM ET for a quick look at the headlines and trends making a splash around the Web. Welcome!

    MEET THE TEAM: Melissa Knowles, Mia Trovato and Henry Baker

    Subscribe and RSS

    [X]

    How to subscribe

    Roll over each section to subscribe using Add to My Yahoo! or RSS Feed feeds.

    Yahoo! News offers dozens of RSS feeds you can read in My Yahoo! or using third-party RSS news reader software. Click here to find out more about RSS and how you can use it with Yahoo! News.
    More »