Can TVs and refrigerators really spew botnet spam?

Refrigerators might hold spam to keep it cold in the meat bin. But in the Internet of Things world, can fridges connected to the Web blast malicious e-mail as part of a botnet? And how about TVs or other smart devices? In the stranger side of the Internet of Things, Proofpoint said it uncovered a cyberattack in which compromised refrigerators and TVs sent out malicious e-mail. But Symantec, says it saw no evidence of such an attack.