It will come as no surprise to you that the video clip that spread like wildfire last week showing Michael Jackson hopping out of the coroner's van was nothing more than an elaborate hoax.

The clip was produced by a German TV station as part of an experiment, the broadcaster has said.

It's sole purpose was to show how simple it can be to spread a rumor online, according to Heike Schultz, a spokeswoman for RTL, which is the leading private broadcaster in Germany.

"We sent out a press release before we did the video to alert everyone that it was fake, but once posted it spread really fast," she said.

Over 880,000 people have viewed the YouTube video, which was posted by a user named "michaeljacksonhoax" under the title "Michael Jackson alive?! Seen coming out of coroner's van!"

In addition, the video got almost 3,600 comments.

Schultz says that some viewers were pleased that the clip showed how easy it was to fake information online. Other Michael Jackson fans have said that this was the wrong topic on which to perform this kind of experiment.

"It was not a bad thing, since it was so obviously a fake. But it is now in our poison wardrobe and it won't be revived again," Schultz said.

RTL has since removed the video from the web, but it can still be found on YouTube.

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