Poor Glen Powell was fooled by a cannibal date urban legend for years
Hit Man star Glen Powell's story about a friend of his sister's date gone wrong got debunked
Aux News Glen Powell
Stars: They’re just like us. They, too, can get fooled by a scary story shared at a sleepover or a prank anecdote told by one sibling to make the other look stupid when they retell it to all their friends. Glen Powell is the victim of one of these scenarios; it’s unclear if his sister fooled him on purpose, but he’s apparently been going around repeating the same cannibalism urban legend for years without ever realizing that it was an urban legend. Does this make Glen Powell all the more charming and relatable to you?
Powell’s day of reckoning for his favorite dating horror story came after he told the tale on the Therapuss podcast with TikTok influencer Jake Shane in May. He explained that his little sister’s friend had gone on a date with a guy and went back to his apartment after, where she started getting “weird vibes.” The date asked if he could give her a massage, but after he spent some time massaging her shoulders, she decided to leave and go home. The next day her skin started “itching like crazy” so she went to a doctor, who told her that it was a result of “black market lotion that breaks down skin for human consumption.” This led to a police investigation wherein they discovered the man had “several girls’ bodies in the house.” Powell told the story with confidence, though he did add, “I gotta get all my facts on this story. I’m gonna tell you this story, and then I’m gonna let my sister fact check it.”
No need to turn to his sister—the Internet, of course, is happy to take on that role. As the clip gained virality in early June, sleuths turned to Snopes to debunk the story. As it turns out, the fact-checking site has tracked versions of this tale floating around the Internet for more than 20 years. In some original tellings, the hook-up story led to the discovery that the woman’s partner was a necrophiliac; the cannibalism version reportedly evolved later. The bottom line is, there’s no evidence any version of this story is based on fact. Instead, it’s more likely “a cautionary tale about the dangers of incautious intimacy with those we don’t know well,” as Snopes puts it.
Who knows who misled poor Glen Powell about the veracity of this tale—whether he was purposely fooled by his sister, or his sister’s friend, or if they were all victims of the same game of telephone that spread this scary story far and wide in the first place. The Hit Man star, good-natured guy that he is, owned up to his part in disseminating an urban legend, reposting BuzzFeed’s debunking on Twitter/X. “Props to my little sister’s friend who told her this dating story…I’ve been telling this for years. I’m questioning my whole life now…” he wrote. “False alarm. Back rubs are back.”
36 Comments
Man, Netflix sent out a cubic arse-ton of press packs and swag for this film, huh?
Watched Hitman this weekend. It was good. Really showcased Powell’s range and ability to act various roles, but in a fun way.
I liked it but could they have picked a more generic title? Was The Fake Hitman’s Potential Client’s Wife’s Bodyguard taken or something?
Bodyguard’s Aunt’s Cousin’s Former Roommate
I think that it was 2 reasons: 1) Glen Powell is super thirsty to be huge; 2) Linklater was probably surprised nobody had use the title before…with a space between “Hit” and “man” that is!!! And decided to go the path of least resistance for marketing…I bet at some point it had a title like “Who’s Your Hitman?”
His Patrick Bateman bit had me rolling on the floor laughing out loud.I wish there were a quicker way to say that.
That’s for sure; it was too long and as a result I didn’t fully read it.
Glen Powell in Hit Man, looking like the kind of creepy guy who might eat you after a dateWeird, I didn’t think he looked like Armie Hammer
Don’t trust tall, handsome, fit men. I’m under 6′ and would never presume to kill and eat you. It’s simple math.
Don’t be fooled by bfred. The reason 90% of men are under 6′ is because we ritualistically eat all the talls during the Feast of Samhain.Armie Hammer simply funds our endeavors because he hates the competition and loves the gamey taste.
It’s a good way to defy our Irken overlords The Almighty Tallest.
Also, I start with the feet. So 6’3″ quickly falls under the radar.shit, what are we talking about??
Only parasites eat things bigger than them!
He also thinks Tom Cruise is a fun guy so I think his credulousness is pretty well proven
This insult is well-deserved.
Maybe when he said Tom Cruise was a chicken of the woods he was being metaphorical?
he’s just REALLY eager to sell out so he buys in to anything, which is really off-putting to me, but then Richard Linklater, who is awesome, really likes him, so I think maybe eventually I won’t find him…mildly repellant?
I want him to play the cannibal date in a movie.
The header image looks like a parody of Matthew Rhys’s disguises on The Americans. Watching the movie I kept thinking it was a period piece, and then someone would answer their smartphone.
Looks like Tilda!
Oh shit I can’t unsee that now.
I just want to thank the AV club commentary people for exposing me to the rich cultural history of red heads recreating foreskin with their hair. I’m not not into it!
You beat me to it. It’s Shy Ronnie for sure
underrated comment, take your star
Check in here if you used to go to snopes.com in the late ‘90s when it played a midi file of “Love Me Do” when the site loaded.
You had speakers?! You must be rich!
I remember and yes I had speakers AND I had a VERY expensive mouse at the time, Logitech Trackman MarbleFX, I think it was like $75 or $80 in the late 90’s when I got it.
Rich guy over here probably had a web cam too
Single must be rollin’ in Beanie Baby bucks! I hear those things were worth a fortune!
War, What is it Good For? (absolutely nothin’)
What?! Say it again?! Well, I will! WAR!
Does this make Glen Powell all the more charming and relatable to you?
Not really, no.
I remember hearing the necrophiliac version of the story from a caller on MTV’s Loveline back in ‘99 or ‘00. Wouldn’t have expected it to become a somewhat popular urban legend.
All I think about when I see the article’s title image:
I think it would be more plausible if you replaced the “black market lotion” with barbecue sauce.