Star Search: Bogus Lindsay Lohan Playboy Cover Tops Most Read Hit Parade on KC Star

For nearly THE ENTIRE DAY a mere link to a story about child-star-turned-trainwreck Lindsay Lohan topped the "most read" news stories on the Kansas City Star‘s Web site…

I kid you not.

Let’s do the math monkey; the newspaper fields a 700-person staff, boasts a reach of more than one million local readers a week and has a virtual monopoly on what passes for news in KC. Yet the best it can do tease with a weak link to a purloined People Magazine story reporting Lohan’s upcoming Playboy cover has been "leaked."

Unfortunately for Star readers who "bit" on the tease, the link turned out to be entirely bogus.

That’s right, not a single drop of skin. Not even the actual Lohan Playboy cover. Just a stock photo of Lohan in an evening dress and another publication’s barebones rehash of what the issue plans to offer.

Naturally, everybody but the Star had the cover shot in question.

You can even catch the cover poromised by the Star and used to lure readers here!

Most interesting though, is for all of its might and resources, the Star‘s top-rated story for nearly a full day was a nothing story about Lindsay Lohan that didn’t even deliver on its basic premise and promise.

Oh yeah, the local story that finally toppled Lohan from atop the Star’s most-read list:

"Charlie Weis to be KU’s new football coach"

However the buzz in K-State Land yesterday centered on Weiss’ Mangino-like girth, not his football-coaching skills.

"They were saying he has a front butt," says one Manhattanite. "He’s not just fat and big around, he’s got this paunch that looks like a butt in front."