The modern day version of the Sturmabteilung have struck again.
Billboard reported Wednesday that the official Twitter accounts of Nicole Scherzinger, No Doubt and Rise Against were hacked by militant supporters of Texas Congressman and GOP Presidential candidate Ron Paul.
Billboard adds:
The tweets, which were deleted by each artist after several hours, have been confirmed to Billboard.com as hacks.
It's worth noting that all three artists are currently signed to Interscope Records, a curious coincidence that may explain why they're linked in this specific hacking.
The punk rock band Rise Against assured fans they do not support Paul.
"We were hacked. As you would all assume, We DO NOT support Ron Paul," the group tweeted.
No Doubt issued a similar message: "Our Twitter account was hacked last night. No political endorsements at this time. Love, No Doubt."
Billboard adds:
So what exactly did the tweets say?
"Today We Officially Endorse Ron Paul 2012 Donate to him here http://bit.ly/yDrrFI #ronpaulrevolution," read a tweet from No Doubt's account, followed up by: "If you actually read what Ron Paul is saying, you will discover that for the first time in your life a politician is not lying to you."
As for the musical artists who legitimately support Paul's libertarian politics, Kelly Clarkson has come under fire for supporting the Republican presidential candidate last month via her Twitter. Despite Twitter backlash, Clarkson's sentiments were quickly co-signed by fellow pop songstress Michelle Branch.At a recent rally in Iowa, Paul actually boasted that sales of Clarkson's recent album "Stronger" had increased by 600 percent following her unofficial endorsement of him -- a figure that is far from true.
In the week that ended on Sunday, Jan. 1, 2012, "Stronger" sold 40% fewer copies than it did the previous week (25,000, as opposed to 41,000 in the week before Christmas). And while it moved from No. 39 to No. 17 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, its upward momentum this week was caused by it having a less-steep decline in sales as compared to the rest of the titles on the chart (the overall album market was down 49% in the week after Christmas). Its total sales stand at 451,000 after 10 weeks.
More on Ron Paul at Examiner.com can be found here.
-----------------------------------------------------------
If you like this article, you can follow Joe on Twitter @jnewby1956, visit his Facebook page, or click the Subscribe button to receive email updates when a new article is published.
Comments