0:00

In the early 90s, it was

0:02

the biggest scandal in pop music.

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The stars of Millie Vanilli, the

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Grammy-winning, multi-platinum R&B phenomenon, were exposed

0:08

as frauds. They never sung a

0:11

note on their own songs. In

0:13

a flash, they went from famous

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to infamous. But none of this

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was their idea. So whose was

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it? Enter German music producer

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Frank Faryon. He saw the success of

0:23

acts like Michael Jackson and Prince, and

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he wanted in. No

0:28

matter the cost. So he

0:30

devised the perfect pop heist.

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Two once-in-a-lifetime talents who were

0:34

charismatic, full of sex appeal,

0:36

and phenomenal dancers. The only

0:38

problem? Sounding American. But Frank

0:40

knew just how to fix

0:42

that. Wondery's new podcast, Blaming

0:44

on the Fame, dives into

0:46

one of pop music's greatest

0:48

controversies and takes a never-before-heard

0:50

look at the exploitation of two young black

0:52

artists. Millie Vanilli set the world on fire,

0:55

but when the truth came out, Rob and

0:57

Fab were the only ones who got burned.

0:59

I'm about to play a clip from Blame

1:02

it on the Fame. Follow Blame it on

1:04

the Fame on the Wondery app or wherever

1:06

you get your podcast. Two

1:22

young men with silk scarves tied

1:24

over their long black braids sat

1:26

behind a long table. They

1:29

leaned into the microphones in front of

1:31

them and introduced themselves as... My

1:33

name is Sir Brace Marlin. My name

1:35

is Robert De Lea. In

1:37

front of them was a room full of

1:40

reporters. But Rob looked cocky.

1:43

Like a debate club student who's never lost

1:45

a tournament. And Fab, child

1:47

Fab looked like he was about to shit

1:49

his pants. Why did you

1:51

keep on doing it for so long?

1:53

What was going for your mind? For

1:56

almost two years, Rob and Fab had been two

1:58

of the biggest pop stars on the team. on

2:00

the whole planet. But

2:02

just a few days ago, the entire

2:04

world learned that they didn't sing a

2:06

note on their own album. The

2:09

album that won them Best New Artist

2:11

at the Grammys and went six times

2:14

platinum. You want to send me a pair of

2:16

singers and I'll just present them. And now that you've

2:18

made them, not even your hair? Yeah. How

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could you expect anyone, your fans, media, anybody?

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Take it seriously. How much money will you

2:25

take it's over girl, not singing? I'm kind

2:27

of mad because I know you're bad. I

2:30

would describe it like this. You

2:33

get something, but for that you make a pact

2:35

with the devil. No one

2:37

wanted to hear about a pact with the

2:39

devil. No, no, no, no, man. It would

2:41

be very upset by the fact that the

2:43

only way you can explain the charade and

2:45

talk with victory at the last year to

2:47

the end. Do you live in a project?

2:49

Do you live in a project? If we

2:51

wouldn't have accepted that at the start, we

2:53

knew we would be still in Munich. I

2:56

was still working at the McDonald's. A guy

2:58

from the back shouted, Your talent!

3:00

Okay. Your talent would get you

3:02

out. Robin Fabb's manager

3:04

needed to shut this down, like

3:07

now. Thank you very much. Thank you

3:09

very much, gentlemen. Can

3:11

we close you with the bumper? Thank you. The

3:14

reporters started moving toward the exit. They

3:16

were in a good mood. They had all

3:19

just been handed by lines for front page

3:21

stories. These two,

3:23

Robin Fabb, had tried to get

3:25

something for nothing. Tried to fake

3:27

their way to fame and fortune.

3:29

And they'd been caught in a

3:31

lie, an outrageous lie. It

3:34

was a good story. But one black

3:36

reporter in glasses didn't head toward

3:38

the exit. He headed

3:40

toward the reporter who'd yelled, Your talent

3:42

would get you out. It looked

3:44

like a two-white boy. Talent

3:47

would get you out. Now

3:49

it's hard to hear him over the crowd, but

3:51

he's saying, spoken like a

3:53

true white boy. Talent,

3:56

right. You can hear the next

3:58

bit a little more clearly. You knew that shit

4:01

wasn't true when you said it. You

4:03

knew that shit wasn't true when you said it.