“The JFK Photo That Could Have Changed History…” <em>couldn’t</em> have changed history…

…because it was taken at least 8 years too late.

Earlier today, the gossip website TMZ posted what they said was an old photograph of JFK – then, they figured, a Senator – lounging on a yacht surrounded by naked women. TMZ wrote:

Had the photo surfaced when John F. Kennedy ran for President in 1960, it could have torpedoed his run, and changed world history.

But, as so often happens on the internet, it turns out the whole thing was a fake. Well, not a fake, exactly. But it wasn’t JFK in the picture. TMZ later reported:

We have contacted Playboy and a rep says the photo did indeed run in one of its 1967 issues… A rep from Playboy tells TMZ the photo ran as part of story titled, “Playboy’s Charter Yacht Party: How to Have a Ball on the Briny with an Able-Bodies Complement of Ship’s Belles.”

“JFK” was just a paid male model who was, very likely, still in junior high when Kennedy was shot.

So. No potentially history-changing photograph. No post-mortem “scandal.” No photoshopping. Which, unfortunately, would seem to clear Carol of any involvement.

Via Memeorandum.

UPDATE - Oh, Lordy.