Jace Connors

Jace Connors, or ParkourDude91, is a fake internet personality run by Jan Rankowski who came to prominence in the media regarding GamerGate coverage when he sent threats to Brianna Wu and posted a video in which he wrecked his car, blaming it on Wu. At first he was thought to be mentally ill and delusional, but it was eventually discovered after a torrent of media articles that Jace Connors was not in fact a real person. During #GamerGate, the media had reported on what is known as the "Wu-pocalypse" hoax due to misinformation from both Jace, as part of the personality, and Brianna Wu, in lying about the restraining order, pretending that one was filed against "Jace" and then further extended in mid-February.

Before GamerGate
Jace Conners was a character that became internet famous in October of 2012 when his Deagle Nation videos and website were discovered by 4chan's /k/ board. The character Jace described himself as a "Retired US Marine" despite having never served in any real-world military. He was obsessed with Parkour, martial arts, and the Desert Eagle handgun, of which he owned a $20 plastic airsoft "replica" that he used to practice "gun kata." He was the "commander" of a self-professed "nation of gamers" consisting of parkour enthusiasts, stoners, and juggalos known as Deagle Nation. While many people believed him not to be a troll, just a daranged individual on the scale of Chris-chan, in early 2015 it was discovered that Jace was in fact a troll, ran by the satirist of a comedy group known as Million Dollar Extreme.

"Wu-pocalypse"
On January 30th, 2015, a video was uploaded to the 'ParkourDude91' Youtube account titled 'Brianna Wu tried to assassinate me via street racing' "On Friday, January 30 2015 I nearly died in a rollover after borrowing my mother's Prius to drive to Boston and make a video exposing Brianna Wu for her treachery in the games industry. While on the highway I was "Street Racing" by driving very quickly and challening other drivers, in order to sneak up on Wu un-noticed... Unfortinately she saw me coming and sabotaged my vehicle."

Hoax Revealed
On February 14th, posted a tweet with an image showing a direct message with Jace's twitter account, in the screenshots it shows Jace claiming that he never went to court, and that her claiming otherwise was just for attention. On February 23rd, the Kiwi Farms forums found Jace Connors to be probably a hoax, and therefore he did not truly exist as a person, so no restraining order could be filed against him. After the Kiwi Farms thread, 8chan members began to look into who Jace Conners actually was, leading Jan Rankowski to come clean about his character. Later that day, the video "Faking Bad" was uploaded to the ParkourDude91 YouTube channel, revealing that "Deagle Nation" was over, and the final livestream would occur on February 25th at 6PM EST

On February 24th 2015, BuzzFeed's Joseph Bernstein interviewed Jan Rankowski about the Jace Character, after Rankowski felt that GamerGate supporters who were looking into the possibility it was a hoax the week prior got too close for comfort. It was also revealed that the restraining order against "Jace" by Brianna Wu was never filed, as the authorities could not locate the man given that he did not exist. Despite the fact that it was never approved, she implied that it was active in both interviews and on social media.