We all wanted to believe. It was 2008 when the unforgettable images first captured imaginations and sparked debates. A commercial for the Nokia N96 Limited Edition Bruce Lee cell phone featured what appeared to be grainy film footage of the legendary Kung Fu master playing table tennis with nunchaku. Originally an Okinawan tool for flailing rice husks off the grains, the weapon consists of two sticks joined by a short chain. Lee popularized nunchaku (often called "nunchuks" in the United States) in classic movies like "Enter the Dragon" before his untimely death in 1973. The Nokia commercial, released to coincide with the 35th anniversary of this most unfortunate and mysterious incident, was an immediate viral sensation, drawing over 700,000 views in the first day of its release. It has since been viewed over 28 million times on YouTube. Released nine years after "The Blair Witch Project," the commercial appears to be found footage but was actually created by the advertising firm JWT Beijing. Using a Bruce Lee look-alike, the filmmakers expertly choreographed a mimed match with real table tennis players before digitally painting a ball into the action, the same technique used in "Forrest Gump." The professional fact finders at Snopes.com debunked the video in 2012, but it continually finds new life in "alternative fact" breeding grounds like Facebook. Each credulous first-time viewer breathes new life into the fantasy. The persistence of the debate is testament to many factors: the enduring mystique surrounding Bruce Lee, our collective need for heroes, the malleability of truth in the age of digital media, and our willingness to suspend our logical judgment for even a fleeting moment of magic and wonder, just to name a few. While Bruce Lee did not, in empirically verifiable reality, play table tennis with nunchaku, the now-iconic image of him doing so has become an indelible part of the culture. We will always believe in Bruce Lee.

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