S. Samuel
Los Angeles entertainment personality Sam Rubin has released an open letter in light of his Twitter account allegedly getting hacked and tweeting a racist remark directed toward Chicago rapper Yung Berg.
According to Rubin, his Twitter account was hacked while attending a press screening for the upcoming Dark Knight Rises movie.
“Friday night at 7:00 p.m. I attended a screening for the new “Batman” movie. The movie has a “social media embargo.” I agreed to go to the screening with the understanding that I simply could not post anything about the movie on Twitter. At about 8:00 pm the movie, during this important screening breaks. Physically breaks. The screening stops and I send out the following tweet; ‘OOPS….I will explain later. But the biggest boo boo of the year. For reals.’ It is fairly incredibly that at a huge press screening for the movie, the movie would breakdown in mid-screening. The whole thing was so strange and yet important, Deadline Hollywood posted an entire article about it.” (KTLA)
He also went on to denounce the racist tweet and separate himself from the messy situation.
“Sometime after my tweet, timestamp 8:12 pm, my account was hacked, and what can best be deemed as as a derogatory and racist slur was sent from my account about someone named The Real Yung Berg. Two stone facts, I do not, nor have I ever, used racist language in my broadcasts, my writings or my tweets; and I do not know who The Real Yung Berg is. Peitzman could have easily checked any of my earlier tweets, he only seemed to look at the one I sent out before the hacked tweet, and that tweet, help play into his theory of what had happened. As much as I would like to check my twitter account 24/7, I don’t; so it was only after I drove home from the screening that I saw several messages expressing shock and more about the offensive tweet. Special thanks to follower Jim Dang @dangjim who tweeted me and told me exactly what to do. Change my password and delete the offensive tweet.” (KTLA)
Details of the controversial tweet landed online Saturday (July 7).
It’s unclear what could have possessed KTLA Morning News entertainment reporter Sam Rubin to tweet “fake a** n*gga” at rapper-producer Yung Berg. The offending tweet has been removed — although it stayed up for several hours before that — and Rubin is claiming he was hacked, but this story still doesn’t make a lot of sense. Devoid of context, the “fake a** n*gga” tweet looked like a poorly executed practical joke, or the manifestation of some bizarre Sam Rubin-Yung Berg beef we’re just now discovering. Before the tweet was deleted, Rubin posted the following. “OOPS….I will explain later. But, biggest boo boo of the year. For reals” “Biggest boo boo” and “for reals” sound a little out of character, too, which might suggest that Rubin’s account was hacked. (Gawker)
Additional sites claimed Rubin may have actually been behind the controversy.
Rubin has been an entertainment reporter for two decades, and his Twitter feed is more likely to contain teasers for his interviews with stars Katy Perry, Tom Cruise or Mila Kunis than rappers we’ve never heard of (until just now). So we (unlike Gawker) are inclined to believe Rubin when he put up a note letting everyone know that he had been hacked: “Pardon Friends, my twitter has clearly been hacked. Will fix when I return home. Anyone who knows me knows I wouldn’t tweet that phrase ever” (LAist)
Rubin is most known for showcasing a Hollywood entertainment persona.
Gossip website Gawker argued that it appeared the reporter’s account was hacked into because the ‘biggest boo boo’ and ‘For reals’ didn’t sound like Rubin. But it seemed strange that Rubin didn’t delete that message too if he didn’t write it, said the site. And, of course, if he did in fact write the ‘boo boo’ message it implies he wrote the first offensive tweet too. Rubin, who lives in LA with his wife and four children, also presents showbiz programmes on ReelzChannel and has written biographies on Jackie Onassis and 60s’ siren Mia Farrow. (Daily Mail)
Check out some past Sam Rubin footage below:
