Oooooooooooooh…
Kayyyyyyyyyyy…

Anyone want to take any guess as to if Joaquin Phoenix has seriously stopped acting in order to pursue a rap career? We’ve been following this since Phoenix’s beard was just some normal stubble threatening to go wild.

His recent appearance on Letterman has some people claiming that he ended his career on national television. Others claim that Casey Affleck’s documentation of Joaquin’s sudden transformation will actually end up being a documentary about this full prank. It’s safe to say that this prank is going on under the noses of most people, because - from what we hear - Dave Letterman’s staff and Dave himself had no idea that any of this was going to happen, meaning Phoenix bombed on purpose.

Oh, you best believe we have the highlights…

Sometimes, when I see things this awkward and…well…straight up bad for the public image of the star, I start to think about which idea is crazier:1) Joaquin Phoenix is a little weird, but is a fundamentally good actor and is pulling a stunt the likes of Charlie Kaufman on the pop culture audience.

2) Joaquin Phoenix has gone completely nuts and actually thinks he can rap. Maybe there are tracks out there I will be surprised by, but I’m guessing that if he thinks this is real, he’s nuts.

Really, all the evidece I see points to option one, in which case, I salute Phoenix. It takes a lot of dedication to have journalists flip-flopping between “this is a joke” and “we’re watching a meltdown.”

Either way, I look forward to Casey Affleck’s as-ye-untitled Joaquin Phoenix rapping documentary.

UPDATE: CinemaBlend has a very interesting take on the whole thing, including some comments from Casey Affleck.