Bill Gates?

Taken in by a ‘Doctor Who’ prank | News.blog | CNET News.com — This is too funny. Below is the mea culpa.

In this spot on Monday, we ran an item from sister site Silicon.com that reported an upcoming episode of the cult TV show “Doctor Who” would feature an appearance by Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, as himself. Fans of the show were intrigued–and then disappointed. It turns out that the story was a hoax.

As astute readers were quick to point out, we should have been tipped off by a pair of clues: The original story–we say again, it’s not true–was posted on April 1, and the run date for the show was said to be Nov. 31 (one day after the 30-day month of November actually ends).

In our defense, a television appearance by Gates is not unprecedented. In 2001, he had a cameo on the “Frasier” sitcom.

So the excuse was, “Uh, it could have happened!”