Desiree Jennings Dystonia Hoax

About

Desiree Jennings Dystonia Hoax refers to an Inside Edition segment from late 2009 in which Ashburn, Virginia cheerleader Desiree Jennings claimed to have contracted a crippling illness after receiving influenza vaccination. The news report went viral shortly after and inspired a video remix series with different music tracks dubbed over footage of Jennings shaking erratically. In early August 2023, Jennings resurfaced online after she gave an interview for NBC News saying that vaccine skeptics recruited her as a "PR movement," ultimately discarding her after she was accused of being a fraud.

Origin

According to Rational Wiki,^[1] Jennings received a flu shot on August 23rd, 2009, and developed flu-like symptoms shortly after. On September 7th, she visited a hospital claiming she was suffering from fainting spells and convulsions but no doctors could find any evidence of a serious illness. Soon after, Jennings began complaining that she would move erratically if she were not running or walking backward. Her physical therapist diagnosed her with dystonia, a neurological disorder that causes body jerks or repetitive movements due to muscle contractions. On October 16th, the television news program Inside Edition aired a report about Jennings, featuring footage of Jennings performing spasms and talking with a speech impediment. As of July 16th, 2012, the original upload had accumulated over 1.3 million views but has since been removed. On March 4th, 2010, YouTube^[6] channel @TheYoungTurks uploaded part of the original episode (shown below), which garnered over 846,000 views and 5,000 likes in 13 years.

Spread

On October 16th, Jennings launched the website desireejennings.com, featuring updates about the status of her condition. On October 29th, 2009, YouTuber^[7] fadomon uploaded a video titled "Walk It Out Dystonia Remix" (shown below), featuring the Inside Edition footage accompanied by the rap song "Walk It Out" by Unk. The video garnered more than 500,000 views and 1,700 likes in 14 years. The same day, the video was featured on the viral content site BuzzFeed.^[5]

On October 29th, Jennings recorded a video of herself sitting in a chair in which she revealed that her condition had improved and that several of her online accounts had been hacked (shown below, left). On November 6th, 2009, Redditor prionattack submitted the video in a post to the /r/science^[4] subreddit. On February 4th, 2010, Inside Edition aired a follow-up report with secretly taped footage of Jennings driving and shopping unimpaired (shown below, right). After being confronted in a parking lot, Jennings spoke in a strange accent and began walking sideways. On April 2nd, 2011, the Internet humor site Cracked^[3] published an article titled "The 6 Most Bizarre Medical Hoaxes People Actually Believed", which listed the Jennings video as the #1 hoax.

2023 Desiree Jennings Interview

On August 4th, 2023, Desiree Jennings gave an exclusive interview for the @NBCNews^[8] channel commenting about how she changed her perspective since the 2009 viral incident and is speaking out on being used as a fixture of the anti-vaccine movement's “PR machine.” The video (shown below) received more than 145,000 views and 1,200 likes in four days.

The interview became a trending topic on social media over the following days. For example, on August 4th, Twitter^[9] user @zdroberts commented on how the media should be more careful to highlight stories like Jennings (shown below, left). The same day, Twitter^[10] user @soundmigration shared the NBC News interview story mentioning the case as one of the "best-known examples of the kind of unproven and emotionally-charged accounts that power the modern anti-vaccine crusade." The post (shown below, right) garnered over 16 likes in four days.

Search Interest

External References