Kanye West‘s fans and media outlets were the victims of a cruel hoax. As it turns out, West’s much talked about “Cruel Winter” trailer was not an official promotion.

The one-minute clip, which featured a snippet of President George H.W. Bush’s famous “New World Order” speech, was originally touted as Ye’s next production when it hit the web last week. But the trailer’s director, Austin Christianson, recently said the short film was simply a pitch to the hip-hop visionary.

“Without getting into many details, I will say that the trailer was independently made and the video is essentially a concept trailer,” Christianson told Fuse. “It’s used for pitching an idea and/or concept to a client. With that said, the video was being used for pitching purposes and it’s naturally intended only for the client to see.”

Def Jam, West’s longtime label home, has come out and dismissed the clip as a fake. But it’s easy to see how so many in the bloggosphere world were fooled by the clip. The ominous “Cruel Winter” trailer gave a heavy nod to the Chicago native’s artsy and at times cryptic vision. And the film also featured spot-on use of West’s DONDA copyright. The “Cruel Winter” trailer has since been removed.

—Keith Murphy, CBS Local

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