[Update]: CeeLo faked it! All in the name of publicity. Oh well: that would have been one hell of a swerve.
With all the talk of exploding smartphones lately, this one is probably going to make nationwide news in an instant. Security footage of R&B artist and producer CeeLo Green shows what appears to be a smartphone explosion that happens as he’s actually talking on the phone.
The quick clip is quite blurry, so it’s tough to tell which smartphone, exactly, it is (contrary to what you may read on the clickbaity sources who are sure to immediately point the finger at Samsung). But it clearly begins smoking just before a sudden spark that sends CeeLo flying to the floor.
Obviously, this isn’t the first case of an exploding smartphone harming someone, but the fact that it’s a globally known recording artist would not bode well for whichever company produced it. The prior news was bad enough, but if you start getting celebrities whom impressionable kids, teens, and young adults look up to talking about the dangers of ABC phone from XYZ company, it could be a huge nuke to their reputation.
So, the immediate question: which phone was it? That’s what we’re all waiting to hear about in this case. The implications for one company in particular — Samsung — are huge, if only because it was their Galaxy Note 7 which started this mass hysteria of smartphone fear (despite the fact that this could happen to any phone, including an iPhone).
If this is a Galaxy Note 7 that CeeLo or someone in his camp somehow refused to return, then that’s one thing. But if it’s another Samsung phone? I don’t know of a net big and fierce enough to contain the amount of worms that’ll pop out of that can. If nothing else, let this be a lesson: exploding smartphones can happen to anyone, even multinational recording artists.
Or it could all just be the greatest hoax of all time. Your call.