Record exec arrested for refusing to send a tweet asking Bieber-maddened crowd to disperse

A record executive who refused to send out a tweet asking for unruly fans at a scheduled Justin Bieber appearance was arrested for "[putting] lives in danger and the public at risk."

Police arrested a senior vice president from Bieber's label, Island Def Jam Records, James A. Roppo, 44, of Hoboken, N.J., saying he hindered their crowd-control efforts by not cooperating...
He was in custody Friday night, pending charges that could include criminal nuisance, endangering the welfare of a minor and obstructing government administration, Smith said...
In an interview on WBLI 106.1-FM at 7 p.m., Bieber talked about the scene at the mall. "It was so crazy that I couldn't get to even come in the building," the singer said. "They [the authorities] basically threatened to put me in cuffs and send me away to jail."

Aggressive Roosevelt Field crowd cancels Bieber visit (Thanks, Rick!)

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

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PlushieSchwartz

Looks like a win/win!

Justin Bieber concert cancelled and a record exec goes to jail!

Now I truly do have reason to give thanks.
- strangefriend
  
  You’ll be laughing out of the other side of your mouth, dude, when the record exec leaves jail & announces he has signed 5 genuine gansta rappers he met in lock up.
Anonymous

Before the police asked him to tweet about the signing being cancelled, this exec was tweeting that the signing was going on — while the police were trying to get the crowd under control and the “superstar” wasn’t even in the building.

Incidentally, the police hadn’t been informed about the signing either. They were called in after the crowds got too big to handle. This record exec is clueless — can’t prepare for a large crowd, can’t handle it when it happens. If I were this singer I’d be looking for new management.
arkizzle / Moderator

Here’s some video of the event!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPI5BXR97_g

Squealy.
semiotix

About damn time we started arresting people for not tweeting!

(sent from my iPhone)
IronEdithKidd

I read the article, but I’m still stuck in WTF?! mode. This story just doesn’t compute. Police can’t figure out how to corral a crowd of tweens so they scapegoat a record exec to take the fall for their failure? I’m confused because police ineptitude usually culminates in the excessive use of force. I would be less confused if police had fired tear gas into the clothing store.

As others have noted, a bullhorn is the appropriate technological choice in this situation.
2k

P: HEY HIPPY!!!
RE: Huh?
P: *SMASH*
RE: OW!
P: RESISTING ARREST!! OFFICER NEEDS ASSISTANCE!!!!
RE: Wha..?
P: I FUCKIN’ HATE HIPPYS!!!!!!!!!!!
2k: What the hells going on in here?
Matti-han

I think the point of interest in this is whether the police have the authority to force a person to make statements which they do not want to make. I honestly don’t feel that whether Mr. Roppo was actually able to make the tweet should be a focus for the matter at hand, though certainly that should play a part in his specific defence.

I believe that setting this precedent would lead to abuse: Police demanding protesters make statements “Because otherwise there would have been a riot”, the government demanding that religious leaders say certain things “to keep the fanatics from doing something violent”. Yes, these are extreme cases but that is how you test your theories and convictions, by holding them under the harshest light possible to look for flaws.

If Mr. Roppo was able to make the tweet, and refused just because he hates police or was too self-important then he is certainly an asshole, but if I’m to believe in free speech I can not say that he is a criminal asshole. If someone was really hurt and they really feel that his tweet could have prevented it, that is what civic torts are for.
Baldhead

I only get concerned about “All time” lists that happen to be mostly made up of stuff from the last year. Which happens *ahem* all the time.

This kid’s list is kinda shallow but at least he’s got a couple albums older than him.
Heartfruit

@scifijazznik – youths in pop music go back much further then that even… you could have just as easily sighted Mozart.

I don’t think it is unreasonable of the police to assume that many members of the crowd were carry phone capable of receiving a tweet. It’s also quite possible that there was an active twitter feed going about the event. I do hope that Mr. Roppo’s failure to co-operate extended beyond the refusal to send out a tweet and that the police were using other means to try and dissipate the crowd (such as the malls address system) in addition to twitter if the charges are to be justified.
- cymk
  
  I don’t think having or not having a phone capable of surfing the net is the question here, if you are at a live event why in the world would you be on your phone reading about said live event? Regardless of how tech savvy tweens are these days, its unreasonable to assume that they are doing nothing else, except waiting for a tweet.
  
  It would be more likely that text messages would be flying back and forth at a fever pitch, but still it is an unreliable method of dispersing a crowd. A mega-phone or a the mall’s PA system would be the best way to get the attention of all of the 3000 some attendees.
  
  Unruly crowds are bad, and yes the police/authorities have been dispersing them long before the internet/or even telephones were invented. Should Mr. Roppo have helped the situation? Sure he could have, but he was under no moral obligation to (possibly a legal one though, depending on how the even was organized, where it was, and laws applicable there.) By the same right, the police should have used mega-phones or a PA system to disperse the crowd not relying on a third party to do the work for them, in this case Mr. Roppo.
Anonymous

As a FYI on the response, the trampling in Walmart last year happened in the same county (Nassau) a few towns over.
Anonymous

Since when is our personal property (like our cell phones, twitter accounts) the only means of dispersing a crowd. Should he have helped? Probably but he’s a record exec so what’d you expect? Should he required to use his personal name and facilities for something like this or face jail time? No way!
pixleshifter

i’d never heard of him before either
just looked him up on youtube. must say, he’s pretty talented and a lot better than the sort of popcrap that gets bandied about nowadays.
the kid’s got several million views to each vid he has up. damn! with the internet as it’s going no wonder the record companies are poopin’. they’ll buy him up, sure, but how many and for how long?
MrsBug

Wow. I feel old because I had to google this KID to find out who he was. What I find amusing is that on his home page there is an entry of his top albums of all time. I know, I’m going to come across ageist or something, but how many years has he had to listen to music? 5 or 6? I mean, from the time you can really start to form a cogent opinion. I dunno, I just find it amusing….our nation and it’s devotion to youth. Pretty soon Disney will touting some elementary school kid that sings. Wait, maybe they already do.
/takes off grouchy pants
- scifijazznik
  
  Kids in popular music is nothing new. The exploitation of kids in the music business is nothing new. I’m sure the observation that Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson had a lot more talent than the current crop of kiddo singers is not all that astute. To my eyes and ears, the big difference is whereas it used to be about actual musical talent, today, it’s almost entirely image-based. Again, probably not a terribly original observation.
  
  However, as far as developing musical tastes go, I would argue that it’s all about what kids are exposed to. I’m an admitted music snob and have done everything I can to insulate my son from the Disneyfied world of insipid kid music. I’ve exposed him to all kinds of music– jazz, classical, world, soul, experimental and pop. My son is only 3 and already he has big opinions about what he does and doesn’t like. Right now, he can’t get enough Beatles. Specifically Magical Mystery Tour, which I find a fairly sophisticated choice for a toddler.
  
  There are few things in the world cuter than hearing a 3-year-old singing “yellow matter custard dripping from a dead dog’s eye.” But somehow, I don’t think I could convince the Disney execs of that.
OoerictoO

hold the phone. “government administrators” can force you to explicitly say or produce something otherwise it’s obstruction?
cymk

I’m kind of shocked at the restraint shown by the police, in a society where tazering anyone and everyone for just about anything, they ask the record exec(s) to tweet to disperse the crowd? (Presumably to disperse the crowd, unless the police don’t understand how twitter functions, and were expecting 3,000 tweens and their parents to instantly leave like robots being given commands.)
Random_Tangent

Found some videos of the event here: http://www.postchronicle.com/news/original/article_212269643.shtml

Sounds like the police were already frustrated that they weren’t involved with this event to begin with, and also probably lack a basic understanding of what Twitter is.
Anonymous

“youths in pop music go back much further then that even… you could have just as easily sighted Mozart.”

Sorry. Not been sighted since 1791. But Elvis is still being sighted all the time. Must have been the quicklime…
zikman

wait………. what?

or rather, who?
BookGuy

Given only the facts in the article, it does seem a little strange. Aren’t cops supposed to do crowd control? Can they order me to arrest somebody else for them, then arrest me if I don’t do it?
Anonymous

I think the guy should have at least tried to tweet since the event wound up canceled anyway, but the police are assuming that everyone there had a device that could receive the tweet. How about handing him a megaphone?
zikzak

This is one of those stories that would make no sense a decade ago. A pop start who rose to instant fame via online video – cops ordering an executive to send out an internet announcement to avoid a riot.

As an aside, I find it terrifying when people think that using bad language or being offensive to police officers somehow justifies making arrests. Rudeness is not a crime.

Well, except maybe in the UK…
Anonymous

Well obviously if he had sent that tweet then everything would have been solved: at his simple electronic request the crowd would have dispersed peacefully and quietly, right? Right?
XenoPhage

I … I … This is SO hard… But…

I think I’m on the side of the record exec this time…

Wow.. that hurt..

So, anyway, I understand that the police gave him was amounts to a lawful order, but have we descended to the point where “tweets” can disperse a crowd, but trained police cannot?

Please tell me I’m misunderstanding something ..
- teapot
  
  Seriously… the cops involved need to be fired. If they can’t break up a crowd and expect 140 characters to do their job then they aren’t worthy of their job title.
  
  At least the guy should’ve posted “fuck the po-lees”. I mean, if you have to be arrested, you might as well get arrested for something.
arkizzle / Moderator

Yeah, “who” is definitely the question. To us anyway. The legions of girls (and presumably some boys) who rabbled in his honour clearly think he is someone to know about.

Also, MrsBug, yeah; a little bit ageist.

I’m not sure you have any more claim to “of all time” than someone younger, it has nothing to do with age or how long you’ve been listening to music. I dare say he has a far better knowledge of music than most kids his age, and probably better than a lot of people older than him.

I like the colour of your grouchy pants though :)
- MrsBug
  
  arkizzle, I know, right? I was thinking the same thing when I was typing that, on the other hand, who would I be to come up with a “best album of all time” list? I’m only 42 and it just struck me really funny that someone that looks the age of my oldest niece (who just discovered eyeliner, for pete’s sake) has something like this. LOL.
PlanetWebfoot

I think police are taking the social networking phenomenon a little too seriously. However I did chuckle as I read this article and image of a policement yelling “Tweet or I’ll shoot” popped into my head.
Robert

Just FYI, here’s the meat of the article:

“We asked for his help in getting the crowd to go away by sending out a Twitter message,” Smith said. “By not cooperating with us we feel he put lives in danger and the public at risk.”

Note how there’s nothing in the article between “we asked him to do X” and “he didn’t cooperate” (“cooperate” being police jargon). My guess? It went down something like this (I know I’ll get attacked for taking the side of the police here, but hey, it’s an unbalanced article):

Police: Mr. Roppo, how about sending out a tweet asking these kids to disperse?
Roppo: #@(*&%, and @#(!(@* you #%(*#@&* cops and your #(%*#$)!!!
Police: Sir, we just want you to…
Roppo: $*(!!!!! $^(!!!! you! #%*&($! cats and @#(%(!
Police: Say hello to Mr. Chain Bracelets.
JoeKickass

I agree with Robert, but I’d also like to point out that making TWITTER the focus of this incident is asinine.

Take the technology buzzword out of the equation and this is a run-of-the-mill story.

Cop: This event is getting out of hand, we need you to help disperse the crowd. Please make an announcement.
Dude: Fuck you pig.
Cop: Please reconsider, someone is going to get trampled here.
Dude: How about you and your fascist friends goosestep your asses out of here?
Cop: OK you’re under arrest.

See, you take TWITTER out of it and no one cares anymore.
cymk

@JoeKickass, @Robert:

Not cooperating with cops is an arrest-able offense, and the conversation could have easily gone this way too:

Police: Sir, can you please send out a message to tell the people to leave.
Roppo: I can’t do that.
Police: Sir, someone could get hurt, just tweet them or something.
Roppo: It doesn’t work like that. I can’t.
Police: Are you saying you won’t help?
Roppo: I can’t-
Police: Your under arrest.

And the cops toss a bunch of charges at him for making their jobs harder. You don’t have to swear at a cop to piss them off.
demidan

“Has a much better knowledge of music,,,” Assuming he is the person in charge of his facebook account, and not some hack who is writing it for him and “fluffing” his background.
- arkizzle / Moderator
  
  Demidan,
  I got my info from his wikipedia page, which has a fairly healthy discussion section. I don’t think they made up the part about him teaching “himself how to play the piano, drums, guitar, and trumpet.”
  
  AOL guestblogger? I’m not so confident in its authenticity, but I didn’t base my assessment on the albums that were listed. Rather on the fact that he is a musician, who can actually play and sing (as opposed to infinite pop muck). He ain’t your average 15 year old.
  
  I’m not a fan (never heard of him till an hour ago), but I’ll give him props for his ability http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaO-z_RS6CY
Anonymous

Here’s an interesting article covering this event with links to the kid’s Twitter account showing that he did in fact make the tweets at the time he was supposed to. http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/20091122/heres-a-first-man-arrested-for-not-using-twitter/
arkizzle / Moderator

Robert (and JoeKickass)

Attack you for taking the police’s side?

You assume Cory (or anybody) has taken Roppo’s side?

I missed that assertion. I read the story just like you and thought the police probably had fair reason to ask for help from Roppo (either shutting the event down or rescheduling when/where there is better chance of its success).

Maybe Cory does take Roppo’s side, or the police’s. Or maybe he just posted a story he found interesting, and thought we would too, without taking anyone’s side.
gilowyn

You are missing part of the sentence, though, right (not native, so what do I know)

“refused to send out a tweet asking for unruly fans at a scheduled Justin Bieber appearance”

He wasn’t supposed to ASK for unruly fans, right?
Anonymous

Uhm, why did the cops assume that all of the kids at the show were following the label exec’s Twitter? If they can’t prove that, then they don’t really have a case. A bullhorn would have been more appropriate technology for the situation.
Djinn PAWN

Hey JoeKickass #8 – I think Twitter has a lot to do with this story, and isn’t as asinine as it first appears.

Cops thinking that a tweet can disperse a crowd can be equated to asking Roppo to write on a napkin and have the cops circulate that through the crowd to disperse it. No one in an excited crowd is even thinking of checking their twitter account when their eyes and ears are peeled looking for their star/hero.

And would anyone even think Roppo had enough clout to have the kids listen anyway?, Or was he supposed to be tweeting as Justin (which is another grey area – police asking you to impersonate someone)?

The conversation may have gone something like this instead…

Police: Tweet please.
Roppo: That’s not gonna do any good. Besides, my assistant does my tweets and I don’t have access right now.
Police: Tweet, or else.
Roppo: Or else what? I can’t even get signal here.
Police: Tweet, or we’ll arrest you.
Roppo: For what? Not tweeting? Yeah – like THAT is gonna help the situation.
Police: Hands behind your back sir.
C12

I guess that I am officially old when I have to check wikipedia who actually Justin Bieber is…
hadlock

This doesnt reek of a publicity stunt to anyone else? Has balloon boy taught you NOTHING? :)