He’s a fan favourite and a hot tip to carry off this year’s Gold Logie.
But Larry Emdur, 59, got a shock this week when pictures circulated the internet showing the Channel Seven stalwart being ‘arrested’ by police.
The Morning Show host shared the fake images that were AI-generated in an Instagram post on Friday.
In one photo, a devastated-looking Larry is being carried off by two police officers and includes the caption: ‘Larry’s media career over.’
A second image shows Larry being escorted by two law enforcement officials.
‘According to the internet it looks like I’ve been arrested twice since Sunday’s Logie announcement,’ Larry captioned his post.
Known for his quick wit and sense of humour, Larry could not resist taking a belt to the scammers behind the fake pictures.
‘I refuse to give in ! I’ll be running the rest of my Logies campaign from prison,’ he joked.
Gold Logie nominee Larry Emdur, 59, (pictured) got a shock this week when AI-generated pictures circulated the internet showing the Channel Seven stalwart being arrested by police
He also took the opportunity to take a cheeky dig at Gold Logie nominee Tony Armstong.
‘I know you are behind this [scam] Tony,’ Larry added.
Meanwhile, Tony responded: ‘Mate, at the ABC, we are all about honesty.’
Larry’s supporters appeared to be tickled by the The Chase host’s post and joined in to mock the scammers who created the fake pictures.
‘Showbiz is a wild ride buddy. Can I bring you a cake with a file?’ messaged Today Extra host David Campbell.
Larry joked he would be running his logie campaign from behind bars’. Larry shared this fake photo in his post, which misspells his surname as ‘Emdure’
Larry, who is up for a Gold Logie this year, posted the pictures to his Instagram on Friday and mocked the scammers who created them
Deal or No Deal host Grant Denyer messaged a naughty response to Larry’s post with the comment: ‘See you in the showers.’
SAS Australia and former military man Any Middleton also played along with Larry’s joke messaging: ‘I’ll come and break you out, mate! Standby standby.’
Meanwhile, a few of Larry’s friends pointed out that the scammers had misspelt the star’s surname as ‘Emdure’ in one of their fake posts.
‘ ”Emdur’ rolls off the tongue much better than ‘Edmure’, I can see why you changed it,’ messaged Human Nature’s Phil Burton.
Larry took a dig at his Gold Logie rival Tony Armstrong, joking that the popular ABC presenter had a part to play in the fake images
Larry faces stiff competition in the Gold Logie race.
The other contenders include Tony Armstrong, Robert Irwin, and his I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here co-host Julia Morris.
Sonia Kruger, Asher Keddie, and Andy Lee are also up for the prestigious gong.
It comes after Larry’s former Seven stablemate David ‘Kochie’ Koch has become a regular victim to scammers for similar pranks over the last year.
Pictured: Larry poses with Gold Logie contenders Tony Armstrong, Andy Lee, Robert Irwin, Sonia Kruger and Julia Morris
The TV veteran, 68, who quit Sunrise a year ago, was seen in AI-generated images depicting him as being ‘arrested’.
The image has also been plastered with 9News’ logo and the phrase: ‘Breaking News’.
‘Why didn’t he tell the truth sooner?’ the fake caption read alongside an image of Kochie smiling.
The former Seven star was also the subject of multiple cryptocurrency scams that used false reports of his death to dupe people out of thousands of dollars.
Larry’s experience comes after scammers spread false photos of David ‘Kochie’ Koch being arrested by police following his retirement (pictured)
Earlier this month Koch blasted Meta (Facebook) for failing to remove scam advertisements using his likeness.
Alongside billionaire Andrew Forrest and entrepreneur Dick Smith, Koch is part of an Australian Consumer & Competition Commission lawsuit against Meta filed in 2022, accusing it of misleading conduct by allowing fraudulent ads, according to The Australian.
I’m just devastated by what (the scams do to) ordinary people – it’s people’s life savings,’ he said.
‘If (Meta has) algorithms that can pick up the inappropriate posts of customers on a platform, why don’t they have the same algorithms that can also pick up inappropriate advertising and content on their platforms?’ Koch asked.
