Truman Show: Beware Crowds-On-Demand Hiring Actors to Protest In Public Meetings

UPDATE--DREHER:  LANDS END POLITICIZES ITS LATEST CATALOG

THIS DISTURBING TREND HIGHLIGHTED @ ZERO HEDGE IS HAPPENING IN NASHVILLE NEIGHBORHOOD MEETINGS AND ALL OVER THE COUNTRY.   These faux protesters are paid to come in and accuse everyone who doesn't agree with the developer of being a racist, or sexist, or....fill in the blank.

What  can you do about this practice at your next meeting? Be aware that it's happening.  Then get names, addresses and phone numbers if possible and ask  strangers you don't know if they are being paid to be there.  This is getting more and more a common practice used by developers to mow down private citizens and neighborhood groups who don't want their plan crammed down their throats.

Submitted by Mike Krieger via Liberty Blitzkrieg blog,

Here’s a bothersome trend that seems quite fitting for the smoke and mirrors driven, celebrity obsessed, hologram society that America has become. A company known as Crowds on Demand is actually in the business of providing fake protesters for causes, fake entourages for wanna be celebrities and seemingly even fake supporters for unpopular corporate activities.

This just furthers my feeling that action is far more important than traditional protests in the 21st Century. They key to getting out of the mess we are in is to actively create a parallel economy and even monetary system adjacent to the current terminal one. That way, when this one blows up, we already have the infrastructure in place to move to another paradigm. One characterized by peaceful, voluntary human interaction and dominated by decentralization in virtually all aspects of human existence.

– From the 2013 post: Protesters for Hire: For a Few Thousand Dollars We’ll Buy
I first highlighted the company Crowds on Demand over two years ago in the above post. Turns out it’s much worse than I could have imagined.

From NBC News:

In Camarillo, citizens aren’t shy about expressing their opinions. But on a chilly Wednesday night in December, city officials say one man stood out.

For nearly three minutes, Prince Jordan Tyson is on camera telling city leaders what he later admits, is a lie.

In fact, Tyson, who is not from Camarillo, is a self described struggling actor from Beverly Hills and he now believes he was involved in a secretive new industry where actors are hired to try and sway public officials.

In this case, a construction project in Camarillo he says he was hired to criticize.

“It was scripted, they told me what to say,” Tyson told NBC4.

Some of those scripted lines, he says were provided by recent UCLA graduate Adam Swart, CEO of a company called Crowds on Demand, which will stage rallies and demonstrations for any almost candidate or cause.

Swart says he has employed actors to sway city officials in meetings across the country.

“I have worked with dozens of campaigns for state officials, and 2016 presidential candidates,” Swart told NBC4, adding that he won’t name any names.

“I can’t go in to detail… if I did, nobody would hire us.”

The California Political Practices Commission tells NBC4 political campaigns are required by law to report expenditures.

But, public records indicate only one committee in the entire state has ever reported paying “Crowds On Demand”, that committee is Six California’s, the campaign to split California in to 6 different states.

State officials say some campaigns and politicians who hire “Crowds On Demand”… and fail to report campaign expenditures, could be breaking the law.

Hiring actors is not illegal. Although, entertainment law attorney and USC professor Lincoln Bandlow says telling those actors what to do and say could lead to lawsuits, if someone feels harmed.

“Paying someone to go out there and make false representations to a city council is going to give rise to possible fraud claims, possible intentional interference with business relations claims, maybe defamatory statement claims.”

Swart would not confirm to NBC4 that he hired Tyson or gave him lines, but says he has hired actors on multiple occasions to try and sway city officials across the country.

Swart tells NBC4 he has 20,000 actors across the country and most are required to sign a non-disclosure agreement.

If there’s a hell, this guy’s going. Personally, I’d settle for prison.

You a Small Entourage.

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