Oh, Joaquin

Say it ain't so, Joaquin! You were magnificent in Walk the Line, Ladder 49 and Gladiator, but apparently you are giving up acting to rap. Sounds like a joke to me, and maybe it is.

Some sources say that Phoenix's rapping career might be a hoax after all. Gaylee Fee and Laura Raposa of the Inside Track suggested that Phoenix might be making a mockumentary with his brother-in-law Casey Affleck. In their article, the pair cited the TMZ Web site as saying that the mockumentary would document Phoenix's false transformation from an actor to a rapper and show how the media fell for the obviously fake prank. They also said that Phoenix's crazed behavior on Letterman and his botched performance at a Las Vegas club (the one where he falls off the stage) are only adding to his fun.

Dana Stevens has another theory. In his article "The Phoenix Rises," Stevens says that this is "Phoenix's playful way of coping with the brain-eating pressures of celebrity, an attempt to yank the rug (or the red carpet) from beneath his audience's expectations."

I for one hope that one of these theories is true because Johnny Cash was not a rapper, so I've decided Joaquin Phoenix can't be either.