“Unfaith” Frontman Responds To Metallica Hoax

Publicity stunt gone horribly wrong
Frontman Erik Ashley of the Canadian band “Unfaith” has responded on his website about the recent Metallica “E-F Lawsuit” hoax that spread like wildfire this week.

He brings up several important points about the state of the media and the reputation Metallica has made for itself in the past few years.

“In truth, none of us ever expected the parody to reach as far and wide as it did. What originally began as something of a psychology study on Metallica’s reputation instead turned into an exposé on how dangerous the internet — and its media — can be.”

It’s true. Everyone from MSNBC to UK’s Ananova posted the article as truth, and several television media programs such as Jimmy Kimmel Live reported the story as well. Kimmel has since apologized for the error, however none of the media sites have even mentioned it, instead removing any evidence that it ever happened.

Ashley continues, “I can’t help walking away from this whole bit actually sympathizing with the band. Because even as the hoax was exposed, diehard Metalli-bashers maintained their positions on the grounds that this was something Metallica COULD have done. Overlooking one very important fact : They didn’t.”

He’s right, but my position on the commercial whore of a band hasn’t changed. People get accused of “selling out” a lot these days, but these guys take the cake. Since the original “Napster” lawsuit back in the late 90’s the band has made it painfully clear that the only thing they care about anymore is the Almighty American Dollar.

If anything this is a big lesson to all of those “professional” news sites. Research your information before spreading something like this around. I admit that I fell for it too, but I quickly owned up to my mistake and changed the article to reflect this.

The best part? Erik Ashley said it himself: “…MTV.com remains the only entertainment news website never to have touched this story.”

Don’t you love irony?