HOLLAND, MI (WHTC) – Holland is apparently involved in a “fake news” celebrity scam.
An online story surfaced last week on a website that purportedly claimed actor Russell Crowe sang the virtues of the people of the Tulip City in a radio interview “recently.” The article claimed that Crowe’s rental vehicle broke down near Holland; two locals came by shortly thereafter to assist, with one of them taking the actor to a known restaurant, and Crowe being quoted as saying that “these people in Holland are the real deal.” A further investigation showed that similar “tall tales” about other celebrities have been posted by this and other websites of this ilk, making slight variations as to locales and landmarks.
When told of this “fake news,” Holland Area Visitors Bureau Executive Director Sally Laukitis said on “WHTC Morning News,” “I have to say that that kind of thing would happen in Holland, people would help someone out like that.”
She added that having celebrities come to the Tulip City, such as what television food show host Alton Brown reportedly did last spring, really isn’t that uncommon. “It happens more often that people would realize,” Laukitis commented. “Sometimes when people are performing in Grand Rapids they will slip down to Holland, which is wonderful.”
The call letters used by the “fake news” website in the Crowe story turned out to be those of a sports radio station in southwest Ohio that has no news department.
