R&B star Akon performed inside a plastic bubble during a concert in DR Congo, but probably not because of Ebola

Ebola has brought out a staggering amount of fear and misinformation around the world.

In West Africa, widespread suspicion and rumors about Ebola's source has lead to attacks on health workers. In Europe and the United States, public hysteria stoked by sensational media has often drowned out the reasonable voices of public health experts who've tried to explain that Ebola is a massive crisis in West Africa, but not a danger to the rest of the world. 

Bring up Ebola and all reason goes out the window.

Case in point. 

R&B singer Akon was in the city of Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo performing at a concert sponsored by a nonprofit organization called Peace One Day, when he decided to step inside a giant plastic bubble and crowd-surf.

Africa + singer in bubble = Ebola. Obviously.

That's how this:

(AFP/Getty Images)

Became this:

(Screengrab/The Source)

That's how the Source reported the non-story. "The Ebola virus is no joke," the report said, gearing up for a completely baseless claim, "and to avoid contracting it from anybody, when Akon left the stage to crowd surf with the people that were attending his concert, he did so in a hugh plastic protective bubble."

Since then, the Great Akon Ebola Bubble Story of 2014 has been reported by popular outlets like Barstool Sports and is starting to make the viral rounds.

Let's throw some cold water on this rumor before it starts heating up. 

Akon has not commented on Bubble-Gate, and maybe he'll release a statement tomorrow saying he used a plastic ball to keep from contacting human bodily fluids, but all evidence points to the fact that he just enjoys climbing in a plastic ball and rolling around on his fans during shows. 

Here's what we know.

Inflatable concert balls are things that exist. You can buy them in bulk from Alibaba.com. If you go to YouTube and search "crowd-surf" and "ball" or "bubble," you'll find things like this from the Flaming Lips, five years ago in Washington DC, where there wasn't an Ebola outbreak at the time:

Here's Diplo in Ottawa, Canada in 2012:

And, wait, who's this? Could it be Akon crowd-surfing in a bubble in Montreal in 2011?

And Akon in a bubble in Perth, Australia in 2010?

And Akon in a bubble in Dubai in 2010?

You get the point. Let's stuff this story back into the internet hole from whence it came and focus on more important things related to the Ebola outbreak.

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