A series of hoaxes have hit the Internet purporting that a particular celebrity “had something to say” about a particular town. The name of the celebrity and town vary depending on what variant you see.
A number of fake news website stories are being shared online, specifically on Twitter that tell the story of how a certain celebrity has praised a particular town. A typical example from fake news site DailyNews10.com reads –
Bill Murray Had This to Say About Toowoomba, Australia Residents
TOOWOOMBA, Australia – During a radio interview this morning, Hollywood actor Bill Murray took a moment to praise Toowoomba, Australia residents who had helped him with a mechanical issue with his rental car as he passed through the city recently:
“We were just leaving the city limits of Toowoomba, Australia when the damn car overheated or something so I pulled it over to the side of the road and within just a minute or two there were a couple of cars that pulled over to help me out. I told them that I was on the phone with the rental car company but one of them had a brother who owned a tow truck and a few minutes later it was there and he towed it to a place nearby to get fixed.
So then the one guy finds out that I’m not from there and offers to take me in to get lunch while my car is getting fixed and I’m thinking, ‘Sure, what the hell.’ So we drove to the finest dining spot in Toowoomba – some place called Grill’d Toowoomba – and get a burger. Great freakin’ burger too. These guys had no idea who I was either which made my day, honestly.
I’m telling you, these people in Toowoomba are the real deal. I’m gonna move there after I retire,” Murray said with a laugh.
Murray added later, “You have to understand, this is something that would’ve never happened in L.A.! So yeah, that’s my story about Toowoomba, Australia. It’s nice to know there are still places like this in the world.”
However other near identical versions of the same story exist on the same (or different) websites with only the name of the celebrity and the location (and a local restaurant/diner) changed.
Other examples of the same story include the following headlines –
– Morgan Freeman Had This to Say About Auburn, Alabama Residents
– Jennifer Aniston Had This to Say About Brampton, Ontario Residents
– Miley Cyrus Had This to Say About Hollister, California Residents
– Bruce Willis Had This to Say About Springfield, Tennessee Residents
– Woody Harrelson Had This to Say About Danville, California Residents
– Bill Murray Had This to Say About Prescott Valley, Arizona Residents
– Adam Sandler Had This to Say About St. John’s, Newfoundland Residents
– Adam Sandler Had This to Say About Dubuque, Iowa Residents
– Matthew McConaughey Had This to Say About York, Pennsylvania Residents
– Adam Levine Said This About Prince George, British Columbia Residents
Many other different variants exist, and these fake articles are appearing on newly created webpages clearly all owned by the same network of hoaxers. Domains include DailyNews10.com, Local31News.com, 16WMPO.com and NewsDaily12.com.
All of those websites contain a disclaimer that claims the website is “an entertainment website composed mostly of articles containing satire.”
This isn’t the first time this type of hoax has spread. In 2016, very similar hoaxes spread across social media using different celebrities and town names in an article very similar to this latest brand of hoaxes.
To confirm, none of these stories are real. They come from fake news websites.