How many times are we going to go through this? Just because something is on the internet, doesn't make it true. The latest case — a story claiming actor Kevin Costner stopped in Evansville recently and had nothing but nice things to say about the people who live here.

As the story from DailyNews3.com goes, Costner was driving through town when his car got a flat tire. The story even includes a quote from Costner it claims he said in "an interview earlier this week,"

...we had a flat tire just as we were about to leave the city limits of Evansville 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 Evansville, Indiana. That would’ve never happened in L.A.!

I have seen this story shared multiple times on Facebook and Twitter over the past couple of days. Here's the thing, it's not true. According to popular rumor-busting website, Snopes.com, a variety of other celebrities have had the same thing happen to them in towns across America. It happened to Tom Hanks in Canton, Ohio, and it happened twice to poor Harrison Ford! Once in Warner Robins, Georgia, and again in San Angelo, Texas. Even America's favorite funnyman, Will Ferrell fell victim of the ol' flat tire in Harlingen, Texas, wherever in the heck that is.

And guess what they're all quoted as saying? Re-read the alleged quote above from Cosner and replace every mention of Evansville with a different city. Other than those words, the quotes from each celebrity are identical.

Still not convinced? Maybe this line from the 'About' section of DailyNews3.com will seal the deal.

Daily News 3 is a fantasy news site. Most articles on dailynews3.com are satire or pure fantasy.

Here's a couple of things to keep in mind when you see these types of stories pop up on social media to help you decipher fact from fiction.

Vagueness

A reliable news source will almost always credit the exact source of it's information in some fashion. In the case of the fake Costner story, and all the others for that matter, it simply states "In an interview this week..." Reputable sites will specify the exact television network, radio station, show, etc. in which the celebrity appeared. Most will even include a link to the source material if applicable.

Common Sense

While it's certainly plausible a big time celebrity would get a flat tire somewhere (they're just like us!), we live in a world where people twist words in a way to further their own agenda. Whether that's to entice you to vote for them, join their side of an argument, or click on their website.

At the end of the day, this is another classic example the old saying, "If it's too good to be true, it probably is." Plus, don't you think that in this over-sharing, social media world we live in where we're more connected than ever before, that if Kevin Costner was assisted by two or three cars, someone would have taken a picture and blasted it out on Facebook? I mean the least he could do would be take a picture with good ol', down-home folk that took the time to help change his tire.

Look, even the most diligent and on-alert people get fooled every now and again, so if you bought into the story, don't beat yourself up. Now you know what to look for in the future so it doesn't happen again.

[Source: Snopes.com]

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