New York 2006

Chapter 69 Crisis of Public Opinion
"I believe you Feili, you definitely did not plagiarize. I have already supported you in front of reporters. I told reporters that I have listened to your album, and several of the songs you wrote in it are very good. When the album is released, it will definitely shock the whole world. In the music industry.”

"Thank you, Tyler."

Taylor asked with a concerned tone: "Are you okay?"

Luo Ji was actually very irritable, but he pretended to be calm: "I'm fine. Don't worry. I'll see you again after a while. You have to take care of yourself."

"Okay. I know you may be very busy today, so I'll hang up first."

"Bye-Bye."

After hanging up the phone, Luo Ji looked out of the bedroom window. A dozen reporters were blocking the door of the apartment building, and various passers-by also stopped to watch.After a day, the news about Luo Ji's plagiarism was thoroughly fermented, and he was blocked at home.

This morning Britney, Taylor, Yao Ming and others all called to comfort him after seeing the news and said they would support him in the media.Even Robin, whom he hadn't contacted for a long time after the last party, called to comfort him.

Luo Ji walked outside the bedroom. The living room was full of people. This morning he called the people who served him to come to his home to discuss public relations strategies.Agent Braun, head of publicity, Blake, and Jeff Busker were all there.

"I just took a call."

“It’s the newspapers and magazines of today’s major media outlets.”

Manager Braun took out a stack of newspapers and magazines and placed them in front of Luo Ji, thoughtfully placing the more influential newspapers in front of him.

Luo Ji took the newspaper and took a quick look at it. The headline news of several major mainstream media outlets was the ongoing war in Iraq. Yesterday, fighting broke out between insurgents and the Iraqi army supported by the United States. The Iraqi army killed 300 suspected civilians in Najaf, Iraq. Member of the Resistance.

Other sections of these mainstream media outlets focus on hot events happening in other parts of the world, such as the China Shinkansen train being put into service.Luo Ji's plagiarism incident was news in the entertainment industry and did not appear in the newspapers of these serious media.

Several mainstream media have not reported the plagiarism incident, but they mainly target second-tier newspapers and magazines distributed in the United States, such as TMZ, Entertainment Online, Stay Connected Weekly, Life and Style, TV Guide, New York Post, etc.All reported Luo Ji’s plagiarism incident.

Viacom and a series of media outlets were quite supportive of Luo Ji. It seemed that reconciliation was very useful. They analyzed the incident rationally.

"In the music industry, the same melody often happens. There are only so many melody combinations in pop music. We should rationally analyze the incident between Logic and Joe Cecchini instead of directly criticizing Logic. If this happens every time If we all directly define such an incident as plagiarism, then everyone in the music industry will be in danger."

Other more serious media outlets, whether their positions are closer to the Democratic Party or the Republican Party, all seem to have a unified tone and use implicit questioning to hint to the public that the two keywords Logic and plagiarism are related.

"Did Logic plagiarize? I listened to "Viva La Vida" and "If I Could Fly" and found that the melodies of the two songs are indeed similar. This newspaper also sent a reporter to interview Logic, but he avoided talking. I don’t know why he didn’t dare to be interviewed. As for the final facts, it will be left to the Los Angeles court to judge.”

Braun stood aside and followed Luo Ji through it and said, "Although these media did not directly accuse you of plagiarism, they used language to imply to readers that it was because of your guilty conscience that you did not accept the interview."

Luo Ji directly expressed his injustice: "What happened yesterday was reported by these media this morning. During this period, these media did not contact me at all and said they wanted to interview me. It was all fake news from M-Fxxk. Why did they want to By publishing these false news to slander me, do white Americans really not allow an ethnic minority to succeed?"

Jeff Basker shouted: "This is it, this country has a long history of racism and it still exists, and I'm sure it's white supremacy that is working against you."

Braun glared at Jeff Basker: "Don't instill your extreme thoughts into Logic. The United States is not a polarized country, and white people are not fighting a race war with ethnic minorities. Everyone is living their own life." In our daily life, there are so many people who are extremists and are targeting minority celebrities every day. Chinese, Japanese, and Indians all have successful examples in the United States."

Luo Ji asked in confusion: "Why is that? Why do they want to slander me?"

Braun explained: "If it were a white singer or a black singer, and a plagiarism incident occurred in the United States, it would not attract such a large-scale report, nor would there be so much media attention. But you are of Chinese descent."

"continue."

"If Chinese or East Asians make great achievements in business, classical music, film and television, and scientific research, Americans will think it is normal because this has happened before. And there are success stories."

"Ah."

"But East Asians have never achieved anything like yours in the American pop music industry. Subconsciously, Americans think it's abnormal. They think East Asians are rigid and uncreative, and it's difficult to achieve success in fields that require creativity. Success. This is the media's stereotype of you. So it's okay if you don't have negative news. Once there is negative news, most people subconsciously think that your success is abnormal, and the media will report along this line of thinking. To meet the audience's expectations."

The person in charge of publicity concluded: "Being the first will always attract a lot of criticism and attention. As a Chinese, when there was no negative news, you enjoyed extra coverage from the media. Now, when negative news comes out, you have to bear more than others. There’s more pressure on white or black singers.”

Luo Ji said, "I understand."

At this time, lawyer Jamie knocked on the door and walked in. He looked at Braun and his group, and then at Luo Ji.

"Is it about Joe Cecchini?" "Yes."

"Then tell me, we are all our own people here."

Lawyer Jamie looked at Luo Ji again but said nothing.Luo Ji then took him to his bedroom to talk alone.

"I sent people to bribe people around Joe Cecchini with money. According to their descriptions, Joe is not a white supremacist at all. He also has many friends from ethnic minorities. Therefore, it is impossible for him to hate you. And directly to the media."

"What's that for?"

"I found out while talking to one of his friends that Joe Cecchini met someone the other day."

"Who?"

"Head of Artist Management, Universal Music Group."

The air fell silent. Luo Ji wiped his face and nodded to lawyer Jamie.Then he walked out of the bedroom in silence. He glanced at the person in charge of publicity, without saying a word, and continued to sit on the sofa and read the rest of the tabloid.

The moral integrity of these tabloids is very low. They make up all kinds of nonsense and put a lot of dirty photos of themselves on them.None of this is threatening.

However, Luo Ji discovered that one of the tabloid reports was quite detailed. They followed the lead of Viacom's smear report and dug into his past dark history.

"Logic is a liar, a criminal, a bully, and a plagiarist. He used to sell counterfeit watches to tourists in New York, which greatly tarnished the image of New York. He also used to sell pirated CDs to others. The funny thing is that he was in He became famous in the recording industry. He is also a bully and often bullies his classmates. We have many witnesses to these incidents, one of whom is his former supplier. He is also a plagiarist and became famous through plagiarism..."

Luo Ji handed the newspaper to his friend Blake, who turned pale after reading it and looked at Luo Ji blankly.

Luo Ji didn't have any fear at the moment, but was extremely excited inside. A huge fighting spirit emerged from his heart.Just like tens of thousands of years ago, when human ancestors encountered difficulties during their migration, they did not retreat but continued to move forward.

Jingle, Jingle, Jingle.

Luo Ji opened his phone and saw an unfamiliar number. Not many people had his personal phone number, and he had told these people not to spread the word.

"Excuse me?"

"Logic, hello, I'm Doug Morris, president of Universal Music. I saw the smear campaign against you in the media today. Do you need help?"

The last time the single was released, Universal Music president Doug Morris didn't show up at all, and Luo Ji only got his signed documents.

"It turns out to be Mr. Doug Morris. Hello, hello. I'm fine here. I can handle it."

The person on the other side seemed quite surprised. After a moment of silence, he continued: "Do you really don't need help?"

"It's really not necessary. I'm sorry to ask for your concern. Everything is fine."

"That……"

"I'm quite busy today. If you don't mind, I'll hang up now and we'll contact you later, okay?"

Luo Ji hung up the phone, glanced at everyone present, paused briefly on the face of the publicity manager, and finally fixed his eyes on his manager Braun.

"Braun, I need you to help me find five top talents in the computer software industry as soon as possible."

Agent Braun was extremely surprised: "You need me to stay by your side now to carry out public relations. Why are you looking for someone from the computer industry?"

Luo Ji said nothing and stared at Braun with a serious look. He immediately became scared.

"Okay, I'll do it right now."

(End of this chapter)