Russell Crowe panned over UFO video claim

SYDNEY (AFP) – Hollywood star Russell Crowe was panned Wednesday for posting online a video shot from outside his Sydney office of lights over city parkland that he likened to a UFO.

The Oscar-winning actor uploaded a link to a YouTube video on his Twitter feed with the comment: “UFO? Time lapse photos outside RC’s Wooloomooloo Office (THESE ARE REAL!)”.

Australian actor Russell Crowe receiving the 2,404th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

The 23-second clip, which Crowe said was taken as he and a friend were attempting to capture images of fruit bats in the skies over Sydney’s Botanic Gardens at dusk, shows a pink, glowing object shoot across the screen.

Viewers, however, said the clip was laughable, with one urging Crowe: “Please never post anything online again Russell. It’s just embarrassing”. Others assumed it was a joke or offered their own explanations for the phenomenon – a mobile phone, refraction from passing car headlights, reflected fluorescent lights from the room behind or lens flare.

Crowe defended himself, saying the footage was shot on a “Canon 5D, no flash, can’t be a lens flare because it moves, camera is fixed”.

Some were more charitable, with one saying “without imagination mankind would not have evolved…. If it makes Russell happy, let him believe it is a UFO and not some light interference. Be kind people, be kind”.