I guess it’s a necessary part of the gossip game on the internet. But now it’s got to stop.
On Wednesday, I posted a story about Mariah Carey being superstitious,and not wanting to say anything about whether or not she was pregnant. How did I know this? Her publicist, Cindi Berger, called me and gave me Mariah’s quote from Brazil. Berger called no one else, and nothing was posted on Carey’s website.
Yesterday, US Magazine helped themselves to the quote. They used it without credit. They even included my editing. Idiots. What’s worse, they out and out lied: US said the statement had been found on Carey’s website. It wasn’t true, and they didn’t care.
The result was a number of news outlets picking up the “superstitious” statement, along with the US assertion that it came from Mariah Carey’s website. I didn’t see all this until late in the day because I’d been traveling. Nicely, and graciously, a few sites changed the attribution over to Showbiz411. I’m hopeful that more will do the same when they read this notice.
Yes, I know US Weekly is a rag full of crap, made up stuff and eavesdropping. Before the internet, it didn’t matter. But in age where stories–whether true or not–are regurgitated instantly, it now matters that US Weekly did not report or write this story, that they just stole it and then lied about it. I can’t let them get away with it.
