Earlier this week, actor-slash-musician-slash-really annoying costar Jared Leto left New York City on a quest to, as he put it, "hitchhike across the country, among other things," in support of his upcoming 30 Seconds to Mars album, America. "What better way to celebrate America than to travel around and ask people about their lives?" Leto told Ryan Seacrest before setting off on his journey.Well, it turns out that Leto's great American adventure was light on the hitchhiking and heavy on the "other things." His voyage ended in LA on Friday, Washington Post reports, taking only five days to cross the country—a near impossible hitchhiking feat unless you stumble across a car driving your whole way non-stop or get abducted by aliens.Instead of actually thumbing his way along the interstate highway system, Leto mostly just fake hitchhiked with Good Morning America, tooled around the Texas Motor Speedway—not the smartest move to hitchhike on a NASCAR track, but whatever—and rode a Greyhound, where he reportedly led the bus in a 30 Seconds to Mars singalong, as if a cross-country Greyhound trip isn't rough enough on its own.
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As the Post points out, it seems like Leto only really hitchhiked one time during the journey was when he caught a ride with a trucker along the Ohio Turnpike. "He took me on a ride in the 18-wheeler," Leto explained later to the Chicago Tribune. "He was great. He shared his thoughts about America and the current climate, and his hopes and dreams."And sure, that sounds like the kind of heartwarming, empathetic experience that Leto was after by hitchhiking, but the ride was so well-captured in a string of social media posts that it feels less like a spontaneous journey and more like a meticulously planned PR stunt, which it obviously was.
Hitchhiking isn't exactly hitchhiking when you're being trailed by a social media team the whole time, Jared, but I hope you got a chance to see wither goest thou, America, in thy shiny car in the night or whatever.Sign up for our newsletter to get the best of VICE delivered to your inbox daily.Follow VICE on Twitter.