Hannah Montana Contest Winner a Fake

Hannah MontanaA 6-year-old girl won four tickets to a Hannah Montana concert in New York with an essay that claimed her "daddy died this year in Iraq." Heartbreaking? Yes. True? No.

Priscilla Ceballos, the mother of the young girl, had told the company sponsoring the contest that the girl's father died April 17 in a roadside bombing in Iraq. When the spokesman asked the girl's mom if the story was true, the mother said no. God bless America.

"We never said this was a true story," Ceballos told FOX 4 in Dallas. "We do essays all the time. My daughter does essays at school all the time. It never did say it had to be true, but [the contest organizer] said, 'That's what we expected.'" Duh!

Club Libby Lu, the company behind the contest, has not yet made a decision as to whether the girl will get to keep the tickets.

UPDATE: Club Libby Lu has released the following statement on their website: "Club Libby Lu has been evaluating the situation surrounding our Hannah Montana Rock Your Holidays Essay Contest and is extremely sensitive to the fact we're dealing with a 6-year-old little girl. We wanted to take ample time to gather all the necessary facts in order to make an appropriate decision regarding whether or not we would award the Hannah Montana concert tickets and other prizes to the Ceballos family.

After awarding the grand prize, we unfortunately learned that the statements made in the essay were untrue. Club Libby Lu greatly values honesty and integrity. In order to uphold these values, we have decided to withdraw the award initially given to the Ceballos family.

Consequently, we will award the prize to another winner already identified. With this decision, we hope to revive the intended spirit of the contest, which was designed to make a little girl's holidays extra special. In order to protect the family's privacy, we have decided to not disclose the name of the new winner."


Reader Comments

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31. writing essays? at six years of age. this six year old and her mother are future heirheads just like the spears sisters, lilo, paris and nicole. the six year old should be punished rather than winning the contest..

Posted at 12:05PM on Dec 29th 2007 by rob

32. TMZ, how transparent and despicable you are to attempt to sully the name and reputation of today's biggest young star(Miley-HM-TMZ HM story). Of course everyone knows that this story is a childish, passive-aggressive response to your readers' reactions to your previous smear story today. Tell you what might work. Maybe someone could jackslap TMZ jackanapes into a more festive holiday attitude. I'm sure that many of your readers would be happy to provide TMZ with some much needed attitude adjustment. Don't you think?

Posted at 12:05PM on Dec 29th 2007 by always on call for TMZ

33. What a manipulative mother! Shame, shame, shame -using her daugther by writing an essay for her that isn't true - just to get tickets. Pitiful

Posted at 12:08PM on Dec 29th 2007 by Molly

34. This is stupid. As I have family over in Iraq right now. Fighting to stay alive, and this stupid woman and child come along and does this. My daughter is a Miley/Hannah fan too. And straight A honor roll. And there would be no way in the world that I would ever let her do that. And neither would I. That is low and disrepectful to the people that are over there. This woman and child need to get a life and learn to tell the truth. Show respect to people and you get respect. They don't deserve nothing but the tickets snatched out of their hands and given to the runner up. Who I would hope is more honest than these people. SHAME ON YOU!!!!!!!!!

Posted at 12:13PM on Dec 29th 2007 by native turtle

35. Perhaps the mother is training her daughter for the sports world. The mother wrote the essay, the child was only an accomplish. Some people should never become parents. The world is full of dysfunctional people, this mother is creating another one. Oh boy.

Posted at 12:16PM on Dec 29th 2007 by Janeyre

36. This mother ought to take a look at Lynne Spears. When you don't teach your kids right & wrong and responsibility they will end up like the Spears girls. But she probably wouldn't mind. The money would be worth it to her.

Posted at 12:19PM on Dec 29th 2007 by Lisa

37. Ugh-What kind of amother would write the vulgar things you do?

Posted at 12:18PM on Dec 29th 2007 by Hmmm....

38. its called Artistic License; Johnny Fairplay style! Don't hate, Congratulate!

Posted at 12:22PM on Dec 29th 2007 by mavis

39. what is wrong with all of you?...it's bad enough kids have to be forced to put words down on paper...now you're condemning this girl for doing what we want kids to do...when I was in 8th grade I had to be in an environmental disaster debate...I got stuck playing the role of an environmental activist...I didn't believe everything I was saying, but in order to win the debate I did my best to convince the audience to be on my side...so you see, ignorant people, that sometimes lying is okay, and this girl fully deserves backstage passes now!

Posted at 4:06PM on Dec 29th 2007 by theDude

40. This little girl and her mother should not get the tickets fo the concert..... And what 6yo writes essays all the time???? And she may have made everything up in her essays but it's a low down dirty shame to lie about dying in IRAQ. Especially saying your DADDY died in IRAQ..... This mother is a disgrace and a disrespect to the men and woman who are actally dying in IRAQ for her lying ass.............Ms. CEballos I hope you get whats coming to you. KARMA BABY KARMA

Posted at 1:07PM on Dec 29th 2007 by Angry honest mother

41. Congratulate my backside. This is teaching children the wrong thing and that is what is wrong with the world today. These children are not being taught right from wrong. And that is why there are so many kids in trouble now a days. People need to teach their children what is right. Lying is the wrong way to get things. And this mother and daughter need to know they can't do that. Especially a lie like that. Get for real. Grow up and teach your children the right way. NO LYING!!!!!

Posted at 12:30PM on Dec 29th 2007 by native turtle

42. Wow!!! I was just trying to explain to my teens the other day why I stay in their asses so much to make sure they do the right thing; Not to cheat, steal or be labled as a liar. I can't believe this mother had the audacity, (knowing she was wrong as all get up) to be smiling, taking pictures in front of the dayum cameras!! I feel sorry for the little girl for having a mom as an idiot and liar.

Posted at 12:29PM on Dec 29th 2007 by Kiss The Baby

43. Sadly, I'm sure the contest promoters are handling this delicately only because they know they'll likely be sued if they yank these tickets back. There's a huge gray area if they didn't specify the essay had to be truthful. What the mother did was low and dispicable, however she's merely exploiting the system like so many others. And if she's low enough to pull this stunt, she'd think nothing of suing for millions because her little girl is "scarred for life" from having her concert tickets revoked. In this day and age you can be awarded millions for being dumb enough to "accidentally" burn yourself because you didn't know your coffee was hot, or slip in fall in a pile of pigeon poop that you've walked past all week. We're just reaping what we've sowed. Thanks to award happy jurists and judges and slimey PI lawyers, people are too afraid to do what's right. I'll bet the slimey family won't even GO to the concert. They'll probably sell the tickets online where all the little kids that wrote fair essays can bid to buy them.

Posted at 12:30PM on Dec 29th 2007 by Unreal

44. Unreal
I hate to say it but I have to agree with you. And it is a shame that people like that get by with all their lies. It is wrong and should not be awarded tp her. But like you said greedy people out there are always looking for a reason to sue. They think it is the fastest way to easy money. I hope that the company finds a loop hole and are safe to snatch the tickets away from them.

Posted at 12:36PM on Dec 29th 2007 by native turtle

45. This is sick. My husband and father of my children really is in iraq. What the hell is wrong with this childs mother. What about all the children who really have lost their fathers. The mother is a disgrace and they should take the girls tickets away. Maybe it will teach her and her crazy ass mom a lesson.

Posted at 12:42PM on Dec 29th 2007 by carly

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