Rapper 'The Game' May Face Charges After Twitter Prank
Hundreds of calls backed up the southeast Los Angeles County sheriff’s station on Friday, due to a tweet sent out by rapper, The Game.
A message posted to the rapper’s twitter account spoke about an internship opportunity and included a telephone number to call. The phone number belonged to the Los Angeles police station where hundreds of calls jammed the line starting at 5:23 p.m., according to The Los Angeles Times.
Mike Parker, headquarters bureau Captain, said the phones were ringing off the hook in the station on Friday.
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“It was almost like a symphony of misery,” Parker said. “You've got a multitude of phones ringing simultaneously.”
Although crime has gone down over the years in Compton, Parker insists that the rapper's tweet caused major repercussions.
"Under the LA county sheriffs we've reduced homicides in Compton by over 50 percent in recent years and crime is down in Compton, but it's particularly helpful when the public can contact us," Parker told The Associated Press. "This incident was the social media equivalent of going into a crowded movie theater and shouting 'Fire!'"
After the department caught wind of the posting on the rapper’s twitter account, a request to take down the telephone listing was made by the station. However, The Game, who was born Jayceon Terrell Taylor, did not remove the phone listing until three requests were made, AP has reported.
Before taking the station’s telephone number down, The Game tweeted that his account had been hacked by a friend. However, the sheriff’s department said the rapper should apologize for the result of the posting.
“We're still waiting for a Twitter message with an apology or a retraction or 'this was bad idea,'” Parker said, according to The Los Angeles Times. "We're waiting for something that sends a message out that people's lives are more important than playing around."
Although the rapper did not issue an apology, the events caused the department to begin an investigation into the matter.
