James A. Roppo, 44, senior vice president of Bieber’s label, Island Def Jam Records, was arrested November 20 on felony assault charges.
A pair of tweets did emerge from Bieber’s stronghold. At 4:30 PM EST, Bieber tweeted “they are not allowing me to come into the mall. if you dont leave I and my fans will be arrested as the police just told us.” Three minutes later: “the event at roosevelt mall is cancelled. please go home. the police have already arrested one person from my camp. I dont want anyone hurt.” So it’s apparent that the 15-year-old singer was a wee bit late to the game.
All Things Digital found a YouTube video of the manic mall crowd and aptly stated, “Not sure how helpful Twitter would have in the face of this.”
This makes no sense to me at all. When your face is violently pressed against the window of a Banana Republic or a 12-year-old girl with braces is gnawing your leg off, is your first thought, “Gee, I should check the Twitter client on my smartphone and see if Justin is asking us to leave the mall”? That’s absurd. My first thought would be, “What the hell am I doing here to begin with?” My second thought would be, “This is out of control and I should probably just go home … or pull out my katana and show these tweens who’s who.”
Either way, Roppo has pled not guilty, police are blaming mall security, and Bieber’s career ought to receive a tiny boost due to the fact that he’s now important enough to incite a riot.