At the end of March 2016, our readers began asking us whether it was true that some very famous people had experienced flat tires in small towns across America and later praised the residents of those areas for their kindness and eagerness to render assistance. Those queries were very similar to ones we had received a month earlier about a similar spate of false rumors about many A-list celebrities' choosing to move to small towns in the U.S. and Canada, having tired of Hollywood's phoniness and fallen in love with the little slices of Heaven found in smaller and quieter communities. The articles all feature a revolving list of celebrities (e.g., Matthew McConaughey, Patrick Dempsey, Bill Murray, Tom Hanks, Adam Sandler, Harrison Ford, Will Ferrell) purportedly talking about a variety of towns across the U.S. (e.g., Mustang, Oklahoma; Marion, Illinois; Rochester, New Hampshire; Pflugerville, Texas; Marion, Ohio).
Like the "celebrity moving" to a small town hoaxes, all these snippets of entertainment news came from what appeared to be just two websites: WLEB 21 and WCPM 3 News (both used "local news source" as tag lines, without specifying precisely just where the sites were local to). Again, either a very untrustworthy tire dealer was operating somewhere in Los Angeles, or these two brand new sites were novel social media prank generators aimed at attracting traffic through reams of localized shares.
The two web sites are virtually identical in appearance:
And the similarities between the sites aren't solely stylistic — the celebrity experiences they report are also implausibly identical:
Hollywood actor Tom Hanks passed through Canton, Ohio recently and apparently was quite impressed with the residents there. In an interview this week Hanks said:
"Well, we had a flat tire just as we were about to leave the city limits of Canton and two, maybe three cars pulled over within five minutes to help us with it. And no, they had no idea who I was before they pulled over. They were very helpful and very friendly. I gotta say, I was really impressed with the people of Canton, Ohio! That would’ve never happened in L.A.!"
Hollywood actor Harrison Ford passed through San Angelo, Texas recently and apparently was quite impressed with the residents there. In an interview this week Ford said:
“Well, we had a flat tire just as we were about to leave the city limits of San Angelo and two, maybe three cars pulled over within five minutes to help us with it. And no, they had no idea who I was before they pulled over. They were very helpful and very friendly. I gotta say, I was really impressed with the people of San Angelo, Texas! That would’ve never happened in L.A.!”
Hollywood actor Will Ferrell passed through Harlingen, Texas recently and apparently was quite impressed with the residents there. In an interview this week Ferrell said:
“Well, we had a flat tire just as we were about to leave the city limits of Harlingen and two, maybe three cars pulled over within five minutes to help us with it. And no, they had no idea who I was before they pulled over. They were very helpful and very friendly. I gotta say, I was really impressed with the people of Harlingen, Texas! That would’ve never happened in L.A.!”
Harrison Ford and Tom Hanks were among celebrities so purportedly unfortunate that they experienced flat tires in multiple small towns (but fortunate in that all those areas were home to very helpful residents):
WCPM 3 News and WLEB 21 also bear disclaimers identical to each other and to those of the two sites that were behind the "celebrity moving to a small town" rumors (Headline Brief and McKenzie Post):
WCPM 3 News is a fantasy news site. All news articles on wcpm3.com are satire or pure fantasy.
WLEB 21 is a fantasy news site. All news articles on wleb21.com are satire or pure fantasy.
McKenzie Post, Headline Brief, WCPM 3 News, and WLEB 21 were very similar to the prank generator FeedNewz, the primary purpose of which is user submission of fake news stories for sharing among social media friends. Social media users eagerly to share these seemingly relevant items, in turn driving traffic to the sites and boosting their bottom lines. While sharing the phony news reports causes no direct harm to readers, the trend contributes to a social media climate encouraging hoax purveyors through financial incentives.
Variations: In August 2017, the hoax received a minor makeover. Instead of geotargeting social media users, fake news purveyors leveraged religious networks to rack up share counts. Iterations with titles such as "What Adam Sandler is saying about Mormons" or "What Matthew McConaughey is saying about Mormons" began circulating on social media:
Actor Matthew McConaughey’s comments about the Mormon religion is one of the top stories today with the actor defending Mormons against an interviewer who made disparaging comments about them.
The interview took place on a podcast earlier today when the subject of religion came up. The interviewer, who is an atheist, was making fun of religion in general but when he began to disparage Mormons in particular, McConaughey stepped in:
“I don’t know, Ben, I don’t think I’ve ever had a reason to say anything negative about Mormons. I mean, I know you’re just having some fun here but – from my experience – Mormons are some of the most decent people I’ve ever come across.
Some of my neighbors, growing up, were Mormon and they were ideal neighbors, ya know? Their kids were like really, really nice and well-behaved and all of that. Honestly, I don’t know how you could say anything negative about them?
And every Mormon I’ve ever met since that time has been just like that. I’m not even saying anything about their religion. I’m just saying that they’re obviously doing some right, ok!” McConaughey said laughing.
He added later, “If all of my neighbors were Mormon now I would sleep very comfortably at night.”