Jack White wehrt sich gegen Heroin-Clickbait

Eigentlich war es nur ein Scherz. Angesprochen darauf, warum sein neues Album nicht früher herausgekommen sei, witzelte Jack White (“The Raconteurs”) neulich in einem Interview mit der “Irish Times”:

“Well, when Brendan [his Raconteurs bandmate] gave up alcohol, I started doing heroin, so that delayed things,” deadpans White.

Über das Interview berichtete dann auch die amerikanische Musikseite “Spin” — mit der Überschrift:

The Raconteurs’ New Album Was Delayed Because Jack White “Started Doing Heroin”

Nun hat sich Jack White selbst dazu geäußert. Bei Instagram schreibt er einen offenen Brief, den sich auch so manche deutsche Redaktion ruhig mal anschauen könnte:

Instagram-Post von Jack White: dear spin, i have never done heroin or any other illegal drug in my life and anyone close to me could confirm this. if you had actually read the article in full, you could see that i was joking. but, i suppose spin never lets the facts get in the way of good clickbait. and while we are here dear pitchfork, stereogum, noisey and the rest of the trash music cough journalism sites: though i realize that you work in the business of soundbites and clickbait, and that you are pissed third man records did not send you a free copy of the new raconteurs album because of how nasty you regularly are, here is a couple other notes: i do not hate people who own cell phones, or never allow one near me, or hate ALL technology etc. stop painting with such a wide brush. just because i dont own a cell phone in an attempt to lead a healthy life doesn’t mean i hate all technology. though you’d love for me to be the luddite that provides you with cyber laughs til the electric cows come home, i hate to break that myth by stating that i listen to digital music, i drive an electric car, and i typed this boring response on my computer. also, back in my day in the 1800’s, artists weren’t punished for taking the road less traveled, or for answering questions with unpopular responses. hell, we were even expected to rebel against the status quo if you can believe that. i encourage people to lead their own healthy lives and find ways to engage in things that inspire one another rather than bring them down. if you love music and the arts, i think your organizations should start to learn to do the same thing, or at least pretend you love music rather than looking to please your advertisers with clicks. - jack white III

Inzwischen hat “Spin” die Überschrift geändert.