Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.

Underground > Radio & Music >

Backstreet Boy arrested for publicity stunt.

pointless and uncalled for

10:41 / 04.01.02

One of those kids got arrested in an L.A. nightclub for disturbances. The police go in and haul his ass out in handcuffs.

Blatantly a publicity stunt.

Does anyone else think that there should be laws against flagrant attention grabbing when talent and credibility can't prop up a diminishing career?

The Return Of Rothkoid

11:21 / 04.01.02

It'd help if you posted some links to details about it. Who? Where? When? If the person was arrested for assault or whatever, and there was a justified legal reason for doing so, then I've got no problem with it being in the paper; I'd ignore it and move on to something more exciting, really. I do know that one of them's been in/out of rehab lately (AJ?) and so if it's him, I wouldn't think it a stunt - just another day in the office, really.

What makes you say, particularly, that it was a publicity stunt? Some members of S Club 7 (I think?) were busted smoking pot in Covent Garden last year (details hazy) and it got them a whole stack of coverage (and opprobrium, in some cases) but I don't think it was a stunt per se. How do you separate them? I doubt any record company is going to be stupid enough to tell their artists to go out and get themselves arrested for the sake of sales; if it gets to that level, then surely someone's advertising/marketing arse needs firing?

I think the coverage given these things is also due to most people's scab-picking predilections. This counts as much as the company push, I think, maybe more. After all, the only thing worse than a star gone to pot is a star gone to pot in public, where we can scruitinise their every embarrassment and past-glory-raping telethon-hosting moment of tragedy.

This does, of course, verge into the interminable cockfight of "what is talent? how do you know when it's gone?" that has no clear winner. And ergo, is probably not that easy to just slip into the law.

Ideally, though, certain people should be prohibited from recording ever again. I'd be happiest if Elton John stayed with his mail ad, y'know - unless I could be guaranteed a return to form. But this hinges on my being made Supreme Ruler Of Everything Nifty, which is an outside bet, really.

[ 04-01-2002: Message edited by: The Return Of Rothkoid ]

pointless and uncalled for

11:28 / 04.01.02

Backstreet Boy arrested.

Here is the link.

So the LAPD had to go into this club to remove him.

Now if this is a nightclub in LA that is attended by the likes of Nick Carter then surely it has security/bouncers.

If he's causing such a disturbance that police were called, why did the bouncers not try to roll his ass down the street like any other punk. It's not like he's all big and hard or anything. They would ahve had no problems manhandling him through the doors.

It just doesn't seem to add up.

12:58 / 04.01.02

quote:Originally posted by The Inevitable Dictator/potus:
If he's causing such a disturbance that police were called, why did the bouncers not try to roll his ass down the street like any other punk. It's not like he's all big and hard or anything. They would ahve had no problems manhandling him through the doors.

Unless the club didn't want to piss off the 'star' by doing it themselves. So, they call the cops and have them do it.

I haven't read the article yet, but BSB's buisness is still hinged on the teen idol thing more then anyone else. This would be a death nail for a group like that.

I'm with Roth, if this is a publicity stunt, someone needs to be fired. No way this is going to be good for a career. Behind The Music, may be, but not for a career.

13:04 / 04.01.02

quote:Originally posted by The Inevitable Dictator/potus:
Backstreet Boy arrested.

Here is the link.

So the LAPD had to go into this club to remove him.

Now if this is a nightclub in LA that is attended by the likes of Nick Carter then surely it has security/bouncers.

Did you read the article? It didn't happen in LA, it happened in Tampa, FL. Also, it doesn't say they were there to arrest the guy

quote: Police were called to the Pop City nightclub early Tuesday evening because of a fight. They returned to the nightclub later in the night to break up another disturbance. While officers made arrests and tried to restore peace, Carter became involved in an argument with a woman, according to the arrest affidavit.

He was told to leave the nightclub more than 10 times until officers told him to leave by "the count of 3" or he would be arrested. Carter continued the argument and was arrested, the affidavit said.

Sounds to me like he's got a huge fucking ego, and thought he was above the cops.

This isn't a publicity stunt, it's a case of some little twat with a huge fucking ego.

The Return Of Rothkoid

13:12 / 04.01.02

On reading the story, it doesn't look cooked-up to me. Primarily, it'd be a fucking stupid thing, as I Am suggests, to hang some kind of publicity program on, but as the police spokesman mentions, it's not that unusual a thing to happen in a nightclub situation.

Carter's protestations of special attention due to his celebrity remind me of Diana Ross' hissy fit when she was recently searched (or refused to be? can't remember) when boarding a trans-Atlantic flight in London - an example of rarefication-induced fucktardery rather than press-seeking opportunism.

13:23 / 04.01.02

I'll have to agree with Rothkoid in this case. Usually "publicity stunts" centering around drug use and/or police confrontation only work if the artist's marketing mystique revolve around drug use and/or police confrontation.

[ 04-01-2002: Message edited by: Ierne ]

14:26 / 04.01.02

one word summary : dumb.

pointless and uncalled for

14:57 / 04.01.02

Sorry, I didn't actually read the CNN article. The article that I read was in a different publication but it has no website and I just went for the quick link.

Probably should have checked it out.

The article I read has a different spin on the issue that made it look a lot like a publicity stunt.