Chapter 475: Real Business Warfare: Throwing Mud

"Well, I don't know what happened yet, but I think you're making a mountain out of a molehill."

Facing the fact that she herself had been dragged into this "struggle," Maria Carey, who was in Los Angeles promoting her company's artists, clearly didn't care; she even completely ignored the reminders of those around her and publicly sided with that big boy who had been willing to help her during her crisis last year—

"Spike is the best man I've ever met, whether in personality, talent, or sexual charm.

"Still the same old story: he is a kind man, a man you feel comfortable around, a true man.

"In my opinion, him achieving such results under the pressure of certain people's forced interference is absolutely praiseworthy. He is a hero, a true hero who broke through racial discrimination. He deserves all the honors this world has to offer."

After clearly siding with Zhou Yi, Maria Carey didn't forget to throw some shade at her former husband, the Sony executive: Tang Mi Mottola, nicknamed "Old Goat" by the public.

The reporters present were seasoned pros; hearing this, they immediately sensed that big news might be surfacing. Each one was pumped up like they'd been injected with chicken blood, wishing they could shove a microphone straight into her mouth—

"Maria, Maria, what do you mean by that?"

"Maria, do you mean it's true that Spike was suppressed?"

"Maria, by saying this, do you mean you know who is secretly suppressing Spike?"

"Are you implying that Tang Mi Mottola is the mastermind?!"

"..."

In mid-January 2003, Tang Mi Mottola, the European and American president who had held sole power at Sony Records for 14 years, stepped down in disgrace amidst internal and external accusations caused by losses from various failures.

As the Sony president who single-handedly launched world divas like Maria Carey, Celine Dion, and Jennifer Lopez, and the man who kept Sony Records firmly in the top spot of the international record industry during the 1990s, this "Old Goat" had an extremely terrifying network of connections and relationships within the industry, but at the same time, rumors about his character were often quite human-like.

A classic example: racial discrimination.

In 2001, Michael Jackson, the world's number one pop star under Sony Records, released his new album "Invincible," but both sales and reputation suffered a Waterloo. This left Michael Jackson, who had hoped the new album would help him regain ground in public opinion, quite disappointed.

This former world number one seemed to truly be on the decline after entering the new century.

Even more explosive was that Michael Jackson, whose public image had always been that of a good Mr., dedicated to charity, skilled at endurance, and unwilling to speak out and condemn even after being publicly mocked on MTV's globally broadcast awards ceremony, publicly blasted Sony president Tang Mi Mottola in front of the media for the first time after the failure of the album "Invincible"—

Not only did he call him a "despicable guy," but for the first time, he explicitly accused him of being a "racist," attributing the failure of his new album to Tang Mi Mottola's obstruction.

Both sides had completely torn up their relationship.

Maria Carey's decline was also rumored to be related to this powerful ex-husband; it was said that Tang Mi Mottola had explicitly ordered major radio stations across the US not to broadcast Maria Carey's songs on a large scale.

In an era where radio still held significant importance, this act could be said to have directly cost Maria Carey half her life, causing her new album released in December 2002 to plummet to the bottom, inevitably sliding into the abyss of being outdated.

"Maria!"

"Maria! Maria, could you please answer our questions clearly!"

"Maria!"

"..."

Even though Tang Mi Mottola had stepped down in mid-January this year, vacating the position of Sony US president, his connections and lingering influence remained.

Even if she was unhappy with this ex-husband, Maria Carey dared not explicitly accuse him of being the so-called mastermind behind suppressing Zhou Yi without any evidence; that would lead to a lawsuit.

Being able to annoy her ex-husband as much as possible and, in the process, sell some pity for Zhou Yi was the absolute limit of what Maria Carey could do.

To be honest, when Zhou Yi personally contacted her previously, she agreed immediately and even put forward her own request—she also wanted to throw mud at her ex-husband.

Having risen to become a world-class diva, Maria Carey was naturally not a pushover.

If possible, she hoped Zhou Yi could cooperate.

You see, the core of the card Zhou Yi has been playing in the US this year has always been tightly focused on "racial equality" and "racial discrimination," and Tang Mi Mottola happens to be deeply embroiled in a racial discrimination controversy due to Michael Jackson's accusations.

Even more coincidentally, Zhou Yi had hooked up with Maria Carey last year.

Given this, it would seem that Tang Mi Mottola, who has always had extremely strong control, disliked Zhou Yi, felt that Zhou Yi was hooking up with his ex-wife, discriminated against him as a yellow-skinned person, discriminated against him as a Chinese person, and thus suppressed Zhou Yi on data charts like radio.

As for why Zhou Yi was still able to win the Grammy despite being suppressed and discriminated against—that's because Tang Mi was forced to step down in mid-January!

The Grammys were held at the end of February!

Is this reasonable?

This is very reasonable.

Tang Mi Mottola is a Sony president with a prior record of being publicly accused of racial discrimination by Michael Jackson, a Sony president who had such high control over Maria Carey that he forced her to choose divorce, and a Sony president who previously fought to the death with Warner Records—

And Zhou Yi happens to be the ace card primarily promoted by Warner Records.

Everything, everything, completed the loop when Maria Carey was dragged into this struggle.

This world diva's simple sentence almost bluntly pointed out why Zhou Yi started saying he encountered racial discrimination when he first came to the US in February this year—all because of that Sony president who is good at and likes racial discrimination.

He really did encounter injustice, rather than shooting in the dark.

If it were an ordinary person, they would probably just have to accept their fate.

Even top-tier big shots like Michael Jackson and Maria Carey were tortured by Tang Mi Mottola until they were dying, one after another becoming outdated.

But Zhou Yi didn't.

He dared to say no to all injustice; he dared to say no to all unwritten rules;

He dared to fight, and finally reaped the results—Tang Mi Mottola stepped down, he lost the biggest obstacle to reaching the top, and only then, taking advantage of the internal power transition at Sony, won the Grammy and the Billboard single triple crown.

And Warner also whitewashed itself in this story, beautifully turning into the conscience of the American Empire supporting Zhou Yi in fighting injustice to the end.

"We are helping Spike not just because he is our ace, but because he truly suffered injustice, which violates the moral principles our Warner has always upheld."

As if they had agreed beforehand, Zhou Jianhui, who had been active in the European and American spotlight recently as the president of Warner Asia, also stepped forward as an Asian and as a Chinese person, talking at length about the company's image, washing the Grammy public relations behavior led by him into a necessary means of fighting injustice—

"Music has no borders; Spike deserves the respect he is due. Our Warner has always been founded on singers, using music as a vehicle to convey the freedom of equality for all..."

Everyone at Sony, from top to bottom, was left stunned...

Wait, bro?!

(End of Chapter)