The move follows days of angry tweets about retailers ‘blackballing’ his new album, Graffiti.
Chris Brown’s irate state of mind, as displayed over the weekend in a series of angry tweets, came to an end Monday afternoon (December 14) when the embattled R&B artist abruptly canceled his Twitter account and abandoned tens of thousands of followers.
“I WANNA THANK MY FANS FOR ALL THE SUPPORT,” Brown posted on his @MechanicalDummy account, moments before it was deleted. “I LOVE YALL. GOODBYE!!!!!!!!!!!!”
The exit comes just a couple of months after Miley Cyrus did the same thing, citing a desire for more privacy. Brown’s move is particularly curious, however, considering that he was wearing his thumbs raw with all the Twitter time he had spent over the past few days.
On Friday, Brown went to the social-networking hub to express anger over certain retailers he claimed were “blackballing” his new album, Graffiti. As Brown is attempting to return to prominence following his February assault against then-girlfriend Rihanna, he claimed, “Major stores are blackballing my CD. Not stockin the shelves and lying to customers,” asking on his Twitter page, “What the f— do I gotta do…”
Over the weekend, the 20-year-old continued his attacks on music retailers, telling his Twitter followers that he had gone into a Walmart and discovered that his record wasn’t even available for purchase. “Just was at Walmart in Wallingford CT, 844 north colony,” Brown tweeted Saturday night. “The[y] didn’t even have my album in the back … not on shelves, saw for myself.” Brown said he talked to the store’s managers and “they didn’t even know anything. Wow!!! But they had Alicia Keys album ready for release for this Tuesday comin … the manager told me that when there are new releases it’s mandatory to put em on the shelves … BUT NO SIGN OF #GRAFFITI. BS.”
A sales associate at the Walmart in question told MTV News that the store had actually sold out of the album.
Throughout the weekend, representatives for Brown and his label, Jive Records, were not available or had no comment when MTV News reached out. Similarly, they would not address Brown’s apparent cancellation of his Twitter page. Now, when you click on his @MechanicalDummy alias, viewers are greeted coldly with a “Sorry, that page doesn’t exist” notice.
Sales figures for Brown’s Graffiti, meanwhile, are due Wednesday.
