Actress criticizes Fortune list, but what list?

Reuters is reporting that Mexican actress Salma Hayek is criticizing a list from Fortune magazine that shows the richest Latin Americans, but there is no such list published by the glossy.

And, thinking that maybe the Reuters reporter had confused Fortune for Forbes, I checked the recent Forbes list of highest-paid celebrities, but Hayek is not on that list.

The Reuters story stated: “‘It’s a huge lie. It’s very, very far from reality. I don’t have that amount of money,’ Hayek told Reuters, after reading an article in Mexican daily El Universal about a list of ‘Latino millionaires’ in the United States.

“‘Somebody sent me it and I laughed. It’s a bit like a joke. Obviously I have never earned $100 million and I wouldn’t even want to,’ she said in a telephone interview from her Los Angeles home.

“A spokesman for Fortune said he was not aware the magazine had published such a list. ‘It’s certainly not a list we’ve done. It seems somebody got their facts mixed up,’ he said.

Read more here.

Just a question: If the list is non-existent, and even the magazine is questioning where the list came from, then why did Reuters write a story about an actress denying a fictitious report from a business magazine? To show us that they can get in touch with Hayek? I am the biggest critic of these lists, but it appears this criticism is unfounded.