A made-up music review? Anatomy of a Twitter scandal
Rollie Pemberton, better known by his musical moniker Cadence Weapon, played a show during Canadian Music Fest, which was reviewed by music Web site ChartAttack, who dutifully published a report card summary of the show. After that, everything went wrong. Here’s how the drama played out on Twitter:
March 12: ChartAttack tweets a review of Diamond Rings’ opening set for Cadence Weapon.
March 12: ChartAttack tweets a review of Cadence Weapon’s set.
March 12: Cadence Weapon blasts the review, saying that the basic facts are all wrong. “Was this person even there?” he wonders.
March 15: Cadence Weapon tweets that the Diamond Rings review also has mistakes and that ChartAttack is not replying to his e-mail queries.
March 15: James Keast, editor-in-chief of ChartAttack competitor Exclaim!, chimes in, implying that ChartAttack has published false reviews before. “They once reviewed a friend’s band that broke up and cancelled the gig.”
The Cadence Weapon review has been removed from ChartAttack’s site but, curiously, Diamond Rings’ remains. Our calls and e-mails to ChartAttack have not been returned.
* UPDATE: Cadence Weapon has tweeted that ChartAttack e-mailed an apology.
Editor’s note: Laura Trethewey has written for Exclaim! four times—once in 2010, once in 2008 and twice in 2007.
