A totally fabricated rumor about Keith Urban has been circulating throughout Canada by e-mail for more than a year, the Minot, N.Dak., Daily News reports.
The e-mail states that while Keith was playing at the North Dakota State Fair last year, he asked all the Canadians in the audience to stand up and walk out before he would perform. The rumor claims that he was upset with Canada for not doing more to aid the United States in its military campaign in Iraq and that he refused to play for Canadians as a result.
Jessica Bullinger, marketing director for the State Fair, says that while she wasn't present for the entire concert, she has asked several co-workers who were there and was told that Keith gave a special greeting to his Canadian fans. She thinks the twisting around of this greeting may have been how the rumor started.
"He did ask how many Canadians were in the audience, then gave them a special welcome and thanked them for attending the show," she says. "It's very unfortunate because it was a special welcome that he gave to Canadians."
In the weeks after the fair, Bullinger says they started receiving several e-mails per week about it. Even a year later, the rumor gains a second wind when Keith tours in Canada, as he will in September. The e-mail states that many Canadians have already returned their tickets and calls on everyone who receives the message to do the same.
Wendy Howe, executive director of the Minot Convention and Visitors Bureau, believes the special greeting Urban gave the Canadians in the audience is how the rumor got started. She likened it to a story that gets changed slightly every time it's retold until it only vaguely resembles what actually happened. "It's one of those urban legends, if you'll excuse the pun," she says. "A rumor gets started, and it takes a long time for people to forget about it."
BOB Says: Lies. All lies.
Thanks: GAC, The City of Minot