Originally Posted by Beaky
(Post 1149584)
I think the thing I lost sight of here, before this became a bit of a media frenzy is that there’s obviously a lot of emotion involved for both parties and when you’re hurt, you lash out. You can look at this in black and white and say ‘Jon has been straight down the line,’ absolutely. But this is an emotional, private thing between these guys, even if it’s about business, it’s become personal because both have lacked respect for each other. Here’s how I see it…
Jon has the benefit/curse of being on a world tour and having a mic shoved in his face at every airport, doing press in every city if he wants to and his message was clear… it’s petty going over Jon’s exact words, the fact is 99.9999% of people, having heard or read his statements believed Richie had fallen off the wagon. That doesn’t happen by accident, not with someone who has spent 30 years talking to the press. This was Jon angry, hurt, disappointed, left in the lurch and lashing out. If Richie has left because he’s a twat, I can totally understand that.
Richie doesn’t have a press call for a tour, he isn’t meeting journalists in hotels to talk about a show. But now, he is being branded a drunk/druggy etc. Just because he is famous, just because he’s been a drunk and a druggy before, it doesn’t really seem like something he should sit and take on the chin. His daughter’s friends probably read that, his Mum might have seen it, people he works with in his other associations or charities; people he has acquaintances with but doesn’t know well enough to say ‘hey, look, this is bullsh*t, I just fell out with Jon.’ So what does he do? He works with a PR for his fashion line, so he meets him and gives a statement. I just cannot see anyone else doing anything different here. Could he have gone to the mainstream press directly? Absolutely. Would it have been handled any better? How could it have been? It’s a mess. As with most things that involve friendships breaking down.
The problem is, there are some common misconceptions on here. Firstly, I don’t know Sean Borg but I know plenty of people who guys on here would probably consider ‘gutter journalists’. The fact is, Richie obviously trusts him. You go to a PR when you want to make sure that your message will not get misconstrued. The difference is, Jon can sit in a room with A.Journo and say ‘he quoted me out of context’, Richie can’t. That arrangement, for the messages they are putting out, suits both of them. Jon can say ‘I didn’t mean it like that,’ whereas Sean Borg can sell the story saying ‘a source close to Sambora says… ‘ when HE is the source.
Look, I like/dislike Jon and Richie about the same amount at the moment. I have been labelled as anti-Jon because of the MASSIVE RS backlash that has gone on over the last few months. Jon has spent years getting bashed as the CEO, the Stink-Eye Hitler, etc… It’s almost like people have rejoiced in saying ‘I ****ING KNEW RICHIE WAS A TWAT ALL ALONG!’ The posting of the interview with his ex-girlfriend trashing him, constant, horrible pot-shots at the fashion line, his daughter’s acting ambitions, basically anything that doesn’t involve him being ‘faithful’ to Jon – it’s all gotten a bit ‘Twilight’… I feel like it’s turned us all into overweight teen girls who fight the corner of the blonde one or the dark haired one ‘cos one day he is definitely going to turn up and marry me.’
People are fond of saying ‘I am going to wait until I know what’s going on’ but no one has, minds are made up and in the absence of fact, we’re all guilty of twisting the fiction to suit our own emotions.
|