‘David Hasselhoff to go, please’: 550 cardboard cutouts stolen

It seems people have been heading to the store to pick themselves up some David Hasselhoff. Hundreds of cardboard cutouts of David Hasselhoff, specifically, that have been stolen from stores in New England.

The “Baywatch” actor and “Dancing With the Stars” alum is featured in a promotional campaign for iced coffee from Cumberland Farms, a convenience store with 570 stores in 11 states.

Hasselhoff, for one, thinks the whole thing is “really funny.”

“I looked at the report this morning that said ‘ripped Hoff’ and I thought, ‘Aw that’s nice, they’re saying I’m still in good shape,’” he told Massachusetts’ WHDH on Wednesday. “And then I realized people were stealing me.”

About 550 of the life-sized cutouts have been kidnapped, according to the Associated Press.

Not every Hasselhoff fan has light fingers, however. Some folks are willing to put a price on the Hoff’s head -- or, more accurately, on the upper half of his body as it hawks 99-cent iced coffee.

“It’s crazy,” Cumberland employee Esther Francke told WHDH. “They keep offering. They come in — we probably get customers probably every night asking to buy the Hasselhoff poster.”

Cumberland Farms hedquarters, meanwhile, is taking the wave of attention in stride, offering a remix of its original Hasselhoff ad on its Facebook page.
And yes, watching the remix is legal.
Follow Christie D’Zurilla on Twitter and Google+. Follow the Ministry of Gossip on Twitter @LATcelebs.

PHOTOS AND MORE:

PHOTOS: Celebrity portraits by The Times