Don’t believe reports on some entertainment websites that President Obama met members of Aerosmith at the Lakeland airport last week.

The band’s Steven Tyler and Joe Perry did, indeed, meet the president on Air Force One on Friday night, but it was at Orlando International Airport, not Lakeland Linder Regional Airport.

The misunderstanding started with this quote from Perry: “We were stacked up over Lakeland while his plane landed. We were trying to get in before him but we missed. Then, while we’re sittin’ on the runway, we’re lookin’ at Air Force One and we got out, took some pictures and the next thing you know, we’re on the plane being given a tour. Then Obama heard we were there on the plane and he said, ‘If you wait ’til I get there, we’ll do a little meet and greet.’ ”

What he left out was that the runway where they ultimately landed and met Obama was in Orlando.

Michelle Meredith of Orlando’s WESH-TV caught up with Tyler and Perry at Orlando International and they described the meeting for her (video). Her video showed Air Force One at the airport, where Obama had landed for a rally at the University of Central Florida.


For the record, the folks at Lakeland Linder say that neither Air Force One nor the president visited last week.

It’s not like Aerosmith members have seen Lakeland only from the air. They’ve played The Lakeland Center at least twice: Oct. 15, 1975, and April 20, 1988.

Next Aerosmith mystery to solve: Is a friend of mine joshing when he says that an Aerosmith bassist lives around the corner from him in Carrollwood Village?

SEND CORRECTIONS, questions, feedback or news tips: newstips@lkldnow.com

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Barry Friedman founded Lkldnow.com in 2015 as the culmination of a career in print and digital journalism. Since 1982, he has used the tools of reporting, editing and content curation to help people in Lakeland understand their community better.

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