Man who lost his testicles while showing off his scuba bong is fake news

The AP is cracking down on fake news, even if it's old and has already been debunked.

In September a story surfaced of a man losing his testicles after a freak accident involving a bong and a scuba tank. It appears as if the story first was reported on the site IsThatLegit.com, and let me tell you, it's not legit at all.

Here's a couple lines from the original post:

A 29-year-old Calgary local has suffered extensive injuries to his lower body after an unconventional attempt to "fill a scuba tank with weed smoke" failed spectacularly last Thursday night. According to the testimony of several witnesses, Robert Palmer had consumed a copious quantity of alcohol before making the decision to demonstrate the home-made device.

“Rob’s a recreational diver,” commented one of the injured man’s friends. “For some time, he’s been tinkering with an old scuba tank that he’d bought cheaply from a dive shop. His plan was to use an air compressor to feed smoke into the tank, and then use a scuba regulator to inhale it.”

The initial story claimed the man was from Calgary, but the post then reappeared on the site BostonLeader.com with the location swapped for Boston.

Snopes was quick to debunk the story when it was first being shared, but that wasn't good enough for AP, so they fact checked it themselves five months later.

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According to the AP, a spokesperson for the Boston police department confirmed that "no such incidents were reported to them on that day." Police in Calgary one-upped them and said they had "no such complaints" of scuba bongs in the last five years.

As Snopes points out, IsThatLegit has a disclaimer on its site that says it's "for entertainment value only." Boston Leader does not have a disclaimer on its site, but have reported fake news in the past, and just looking at the site's sketchy nature should tell you that this is not a reliable source for information.

But seriously, scuba bong sounds awesome and someone should (safely) make one.