LITTLE ROCK — Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art will be open on Friday, regardless of what a spoof website claims.
The website, crystalbridgesfoundation.org, consists of a fake news release stating that Crystal Bridges will be closed Friday in solidarity with Wal-Mart employees engaging in Black Friday strikes, walkouts and pickets.
But that’s not true, said Diane Carroll, a spokesman for the museum.
“It is a false website, false information, false quotes,” she said.
The museum will be open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday. Admission is free.
The website was created Monday night through Yohost. org, a Panamanian company that advertises its “anonymous hosting solutions.” On its website, Yohost.org brags that its “Panama offshore jurisdiction address” means it is off-limits to any government’s regulations.
When asked for information, a representative of Yohost.org said via e-mail: “The domain is under our privacy protection. We cannot disclose customer information to you.” The cost to register such a domain through the company is $19.99 a year.
Creation of the website came just before Thanksgiving, a day when Wal-Mart Stores Inc. plans to begin its Black Friday sales. Black Friday is one of the busiest shopping days of the year. Traditionally, Black Friday sales are held on the day after Thanksgiving, but Wal-Mart decided this year to begin its Black Friday sales at 8p.m. today, a time when many families are sitting down to eat leftover turkey.
That has prompted threats by some Wal-Mart employees to strike or picket stores.
The Northwest Arkansas Workers’ Justice Center, OMNI Center for Peace, Justice and Ecology and others plan to hold a “friendly informational picket” at the Wal-Mart Supercenter in Springdale beginning at 7 p.m. today, according to a news release.
“Walmart workers across the country will walk off the job on Thanksgiving night in protest of Walmart’s retaliation practices when asking for fair wages, paid sick days, improved working conditions, but above all respect,” the news release stated. The event will include a Thanksgiving skit, hot chocolate for shoppers and a presentation of a “demand letter” to the store manager.
The hoax website, which was still online Wednesday afternoon, contained a news release purportedly quoting Wal-Mart heiress Alice Walton encouraging people to stay home and not shop Wal-Mart on Thanksgiving. Walton was the driving force behind Crystal Bridges.
Carroll said the museum has nothing to do with the website crystalbridgesfoundation.org. There is no Crystal Bridges Foundation. The museum’s website is crystalbridges.org. The spoof website contains links to crystalbridges.org.
Carroll said Crystal Bridges had about 13,000 visitors Thanksgiving week last year, and it’s hoping Black Friday is a popular day at the museum since many people are off work that day.
Crystal Bridges initially opened Nov. 11, 2011.
“At this time, we’re investigating our next steps,” Carroll said, regarding the website.
Wal-Mart filed a complaint Nov. 15 with the National Labor Relations Board seeking to prevent a group known as OUR Walmart from holding protests at hundreds of stores just before Black Friday.
OUR Walmart consists of Wal-Mart employees. It’s part of a larger group called Making Change at Walmart, which is anchored by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, according to its website, makingchangeatwalmart.org.
Since October, OU R Walmart has staged smaller strikes at individual stores, though none of those disrupted Wal-Mart’s operations, the company said. OUR Walmart said 88 workers went on strike at 28 stores in 12 states last month, according to an article in The New York Times.
Wal-Mart employs about 1.4 million people in the United States and has about 3,971 U.S. stores, including Sam’s Club locations.
A spokesman for Making Change at Walmart said Wednesday the organization had nothing to do with the hoax website and news release.
Arkansas, Pages 18 on 11/22/2012