Chris Brown’s “Mechanical Dummy” twittter account was abruptly deleted yesterday after he launched a barrage of tweets criticizing stores for not stocking shelves with his Graffiti CD (Strong Language):
Chris even went so far as to Twitpic empty shelves begging fans to send him information on store locations that weren’t stocking his music and insinuating that major stores like Walmart, Target and Best Buy were blackballing his music:
“If it looks like this when you go buy #Graffiti let me know what City/State & Store for re-stock.” (PHOTO)
I think when he launched his own personal attack against the retailers it was a wrap. Sales of his CD are obviously slacking but it’s not because of blackballing. Chris has a lot of work to do on his image before being forgiven for that Rihanna incident and telling the industry to “kiss [his] ass” is not the way to do it.
Deleting that twitter account was the first step towards redemption. Maybe he should take a que from Tiger Woods and disappear for a minute (or two or three)…
*Updated*: ~ I couldn’t let this post pass without adding MTV’s timeline of Chris Brown’s dumb tweets:
Saturday, September 5: In more innocent times for Brown and his Twitter account, @MechanicalDummy, the “Forever” singer tweeted about completing his Graffiti album.
In a no-frills post, he wrote, “Graffiti!!!! Comin soon … Just finished it … hands down … My best album … That’s all I’mma give away right now. I honestly don’t think the game is ready for the recordz I got coming off the new album … (not tryna be cocky)!!!! LOL.”
Wednesday, September 16: Brown notified his fans that he began serving the first of his 180-days of community labor in a tweet and later posted what he labeled an “exclusive” photo of himself on his site where he was seen cleaning up trash in an orange safety vest. The image drew criticism from the singer’s detractors who claimed Brown was making a mockery of his punishment ? an accusation he denied.
Tuesday, October 6: Just a month after breaking his silence on CNN, Brown kick-started his comeback when he announced via Twitter that he’d be embarking on a Fan Appreciation Tour.
The post was later taken down as Brown apparently jumped the gun in making the announcement.
Monday, October 19: Brown used Twitter for promotional purposes, too; this time he tweeted about the video for his song “Crawl,” telling his followers the video ? featuring Cassie ? was on its way soon.
Monday, October 26: Brown posted the first of two tweets about his former flame Rihanna, where the singer openly reminisced about their time together.
“I’m sorry y’all. Just had to post it,” he wrote after retweeting a fan-made video sent to him that featured images of him and Rihanna set to Lee Carr’s “The Way We Used to Be.”
Monday, November 2: Brown’s @MechanicalDummy account tweets the Graffiti album cover, revealing the artwork for the forthcoming project. The tweet, though, occurred while Brown was being interviewed by MTV News correspondent Sway Calloway for the special “Chris Brown: The Interview.” (He had a part-time ghost-tweeter! Shhh.)
Sunday, November 22: In a case of bad timing, according to Brown, he tweeted “cornball” about a friend who he was with ? but the post hit the Web just seconds after Jay-Z, a Rihanna advocate and supporter, appeared onstage to accept an honor at the American Music Awards. “People blew [it] out of proportion. … I was also commenting on certain things that was going on the AMAs. I was tweeting randomly about what was going on … so the homies was at the house and everybody was like, ‘He’s making an excuse.’ All I twittered, I said, ‘cornball’ ? I wasn’t talking about homie at all,” Brown explained later in a radio interview.
Friday, December 11: Brown slammed the music industry and claimed he was being blackballed, seemingly referencing those who have been slow to re-embrace the star in the wake of his February assault against Rihanna. The superstar singer tweeted that his album was being under-stocked in stores. “I’m tired of this sh–,” Brown tweeted. “Major stores are blackballing my CD. Not stockin the shelves and lying to customers. What the f— do I gotta do…”
Saturday, December 12: Brown continued to assail retail outlets that he feels aren’t property stocking his album, even going as far as visiting a Wal-Mart in Connecticut and tweeting that his Graffiti LP wasn’t in stock or on shelves. A representative from the Wallingford store spoke with MTV News and told a different story: The album wasn’t available because it sold out.
Monday, December 14: Brown’s Twitter account is deleted.
Timeline via MTV
This should be a lesson to any artist that’s still on twitter.? We’re watching you…