fter a string of hacks over the last few days littered the major corporate Twitter accounts of @BurgerKing and @Jeep with unprintable expletives, shoutouts to competitors like McDonald's and Cadillac, and references to Chicago rapper Chief Keef, someone at Viacom decided to have a little fun with the handles belonging to @MTV and @BET.

The hacks turned out to be fake.

Naturally, the stunt provoked a collective groan across the Twittersphere, with everyone from BuzzFeed to ABC News initially reporting the hacks as the real thing. (And understandably so.)

And not to be outdone, other brands decided to insert themselves into the conversation:

OMG we hacked ourselves because it's the cool thing to do! yfrog.com/h2tdxup

— Denny's (@DennysDiner) February 19, 2013

According to Reuters deputy social media editor Matthew Keys, the mind allegedly behind Tuesday afternoon's stunt was J.P. Lespinasse (@djtakefie), a self-described "social media pugilist" employed by BET. (The incriminating tweet has since been deleted.) The account has not tweeted in three hours, and we've reached out to Lespinasse for comment. 

After the fun was over, MTV decided to issue something of an apology:

We totally Catfish-ed you guys. Thanks for playing! <3 you, @bet. ;)

— MTV (@MTV) February 19, 2013