Jenice Armstrong: You can stop the vile media

0 Comments | Philadelphia Daily News, July, 2008

IF YOU'RE lucky, you missed getting a bloody e-mail promoting  Ashanti's  new single, "The Way That I Love You." It was disturbingly violent and, given the homicide rate plaguing many American cities, it was in unbelievably bad taste.

Some kook dreamed up the idea of sending an e-mail blast of customizable e-cards to hype the R&B singer's ballad about a relationship gone awry. Called a Gotcha Gram, the video was done in the form of a fake TV news report alleging that Ashanti's killing of a cheating boyfriend had sparked a wave of copycat murders.

Here's where it got even more macabre. Recipients of the card had the option of adding the names of their own cheating lovers, which could be written on a bathroom wall in what looked like blood. You could even upload a picture...