An exclusive People cover
featuring Taylor Lautner announcing he's gay has been revealed to be
a hoax.
The January 17, 2012 issue includes
Lautner, the 19-year-old co-star of The Twilight Saga film
series, wearing jeans, a gray v-neck t-shirt and a black leather
jacket as he crouches behind the headline: “EXCLUSIVE TAYLOR
LAUTNER OUT & PROUD.”
“Tired of rumors, the Twilight
star opens up about his decision to finally come out,” the fake
cover reads and quotes Lautner as saying: “I'm more liberated, and
happier than I've ever been.”
According to GossipCop.com,
a People magazine representative has confirmed that the cover
is “absolutely fake.”
The website also observed that the
cover had most likely been created by photoshopping a May 2006 People
cover which included identical sidebar news items of Brad Pitt and
Carnie Wilson.
The fake cover appears just two months
after GQ
apologized for asking Lautner if director Gus Van Sant and writer
Dustin Lance Black, the team behind the Oscar-winning film Milk,
hit on him during a work-related dinner meeting. Lautner answered
that they did not. “I think they know I'm straight,” he said.