Back To The Future, and back to reality: Michael J Fox arrested for insider sports betting……. Not!

They say gambling is fool’s gold.

There is more than a strand of truth to this adage if it is conducted in a nation which frowns upon those who like to have a flutter, especially if they gain an unfair advantage.

According to satirical blog Stubhill News, American actor Michael J Fox has had his collar felt by the long arm of the law as a result of alleged insider betting on sports gambling website DraftKings, although there has been no official police report on the matter at this stage.

Don’t Call Me Chicken!!

As iconic as the stainless steel mid-80s DeLorean DMC 12 which featured as Marty McFly’s time machine in Back to The Future is the dialog used during the movie by Marty McFly, played by Michael J Fox in his heyday.

Time-traveling Marty McFly was relatively calm and did not fear reaching 88 miles per hour at which time the DeLorean’s Flux Capacitor was activated, propelling Marty and the famous DeLorean several years backwards or forwards in time. That is until someone doubted his courage, at which point he would stop in his tracks and say “Don’t call me chicken!”

The blog amusingly asserts that US Authorities were alerted to Michael J. Fox’s alleged insider bets via his username NoChicken, echoing his catchphrase in the cult movie over 30 years ago.

The remarkable thing about this rather amusing publication is the serious light in which it was viewed by many readers. Within four hours of release, it was viral on Reddit and various other blogs which took the entire story very seriously, including the banal ‘quotes’ from apparently imaginary FBI and NASA spokespeople.

Great Scott, it pays to analyse what you read very carefully…

 

DeLorean DMC 12 image courtesy of fineartamerica.com