Thanks to loyal reader Brian over at HipHopBlog for this follow up to my post about music producer Jermaine Dupri’s veiled threats to end my life over a blog post that he didn’t like.
A friend who was on the line – a local club promoter who heard the whole thing — defended Dupri’s actions with the excuse that Dupri was drunk after partying the night away in France. Dupri did not sound drunk to me. His speech was not slurred. His words were clear and precise.
He wanted me to know — over and over again — that his goons were ready fuck me up and/or even kill me, to protect his little rep as the honorary mayor of Atlanta. All of these threats of violence were made over a blog post that hit too close to home.
Here’s what Brian and Rocky Williform (pictured above left), the founder and editor-in-chief of HipHopBlog.com (formerly T.I.’s StreetCred.com) had to say:
If these allegations are true, the entire blogosphere should be outraged and Dupri should face litigation. “You’re talking about the Internet blogosphere, so you’re talking federal statute,” says HipHopBlog.com’s Rocky Williform. “What he did amounts to a terrorist threat.” Bloggers should be able to blog without fear of violence from individuals who don’t like what was written about them. Of course, if one is reading something about themselves that they don’t like–or that they believe to be untrue–they have a right to react. “There are civil remedies for when you disagree with someone or you feel someone is slandering you,” Williform says.
“Would he have called [TMZ’s] Harvey Levin like that? Would he have called Rupert Murdock at Fox News?” Williform adds. “New media should be outraged and should send a message to Jermaine Dupri that this kind of behavior cannot be tolerated.” Because the Internet is international commerce, Dupri could realistically face charges under federal statutes, meaning that instead of Rose’s attorney, he could possibly face U.S. attorney Sally Yates of Georgia’s northern district. READ MORE…
