The greatest risk most performers take when performing under their own name is running into an ex at a show, but mentalist David Meade has repeatedly been on the unfortunate end of a case of mistaken identity that’s been amping up in intensity.
The other David Meade, the one our David Meade is so often mistaken for on social media, is a doomsday theorist who claims the world will end on October 15th, because of the planet Nibiru. (Yeah.) His theories have been thoroughly been debunked both scientifically and spiritually, but his ideas nevertheless get some folks very riled up. Some people wanting to engage in uncivil discourse with Doomsday David about his claims don’t pay quite enough attention to who they’re @-ing, and end up harassing Mentalist David instead. Comments range from variations on “you’re looney” to more serious threats of violence. One commenter simply said, “I will kill you.”
It certainly didn’t help when Glenn Beck’s Twitter account promoted an interview with Doomsday David, but linked to Mentalist David’s profile instead. “I think most of the vitriol came from confused people who panicked and worried,” Mentalist David told The Washington Post. “No matter what I said in response, people didn’t believe me that it wasn’t me.”
Mentalist David is doing everything he can to preserve his good name, but he can only do so much to battle the power of search engine results. “I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t worried about what this all means and what impact it might have,” he said.
To do our part to help Mentalist David’s SEO, here’s a video of him reading Peter Flanagan’s mind during a radio program.