Shell May Sue Over Fake Party Video That Went Viral

The video, which hit several national sites, depicts a ceremonial "opening tap" to begin drilling in the Arctic. But the prop misfires and the elderly lady who tapped it gets doused with liquid.

Just like the Arctic would if Shell drilled, you see?

"We can confirm that this was not a Shell event. Activist groups are becoming increasingly desperate in their attempts to block our federally approved right to drill in the Arctic, and are resorting to ever more underhanded tactics," said Shell Alaska spokesman Curtis Smith

A release from the company says the pranksters' campaign, ID'd only by the hash tag #shellfail, "deliberately misrepresents the safety of Shell's drill rigs heading to the Arctic, and extensively violated Shell's intellectual property rights."

Gawker has looked into web domains and such and found an alleged Houston media company named Wainwright & Shore is connected to the video.

Gawker says of Wainwright & Shore's website:

[A]ccording to the whois records, the domain was registered just last month. And the clincher: The domain name server is Mayfirst.org, a lefty-radical hosting company which was also used by notorious pranksters the Yes Men to host a fake Bank of America website back in April.

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