What Was the 'William Banks Jail Saga'?

The thing about the digital material that comprises the William Banks jail saga is that it all looks really real. The facility where the photos and videos were shot has cells and barred windows and chain link fences and tables soldered into the ground. Banks and his fellow "inmates"—the men in the videos and photos that Banks posted to his X and Instagram and TikTok accounts over his four months of "incarceration"—look the part, dressed in navy blue and gray scrubs, with the occasional wifebeater or white t-shirt. More than that, the footage has a 2000s flip-phone grain and frenetic, shaky camera work that you do see in actual videos shot in detention facilities that make their way onto social media.

But William Banks did not spend half of an eight-month sentence in an unspecified Connecticut state prison before making a daring escape with the friends he made on the inside, documented via supposedly real time posts on his social media platforms. Gizmodo first reported on the fact that the jail saga was a "hoax" in late February, but "hoax" doesn't quite nail it. 

Yes, he's lying online, and he kept the gambit up during a 25-minute interview with me in early March after his supposed "escape," in spite of overwhelming evidence, including interviews with other comedians who know him socially and professionally, public records, and a now-defunct Backstage casting call for a project titled "Jail Saga Reality Show," posted by a company that lists the Brooklyn-based comedian and actor as a co-owner. The eight-month sentence, the enemies to comrades arc with his fellow inmates, and the prison break video—all that is fake.

What is real is the inciting incident that supposedly landed Banks in jail. He did have a warrant issued for his arrest after he allegedly stole five Israeli flags from strangers' lawns in Westport, Connecticut, which led to actual charges of sixth-degree larceny.

Also real: the five separate $10,000 donations to pro-Palestinian aid organizations from funds that he claims he raised by creating his own meme coin as his jail content rocketed him into virality.