On Friday there were a number of posts on Twitter along these lines: "Mendeecees Harris Sentenced to 15 Years. Is Yandy Cheatin' Already?"
I can't answer whether Yandy is cheatin', though I hope not for Mendeecees' sake, but I know the first half of the Tweets - the supposed prison sentence of 15 years - is completely wrong.
A year ago I would not have known who either Mendeecees Harris or Yandy were. Now I do, and not because I'm a fan of the "reality" (emphasize the quotes) television show that features them.
I'm not a fan of Love & Hip Hop, not that there aren't possibly merits to the VH1 show but simply because I find all "reality" (emphasis again) television unwatchable, whether Housewives of Hoboken or Ornithologists of Olean. (I thought for the longest time American Pickers was about banjo players and Honey Boo Boo was an animated cartoon character.)
How do I now know who Mendeecees Harris is, and why do I occasionally dip my toe into the Twitter-verse to see the latest falsehoods about him? Some short history is required here.
In February I received a tip that a VH1 television reality show celebrity had been arrested in New York City for allegedly trafficking drugs between there and the Rochester region. That person was Mendeecees Harris, who was arrested with his brother, Tyrus, and another individual, Ronald Walker.
A whole lot of cash - $1.5 million at homes and at banks - and some very expensive jewelry were also seized during raids, alleged to have been proceeds of drug trafficking.
I did not know who Mendeecees Harris was, nor did I know anything about the show Love & Hip Hop. Fortunately, there was a fan in the newsroom, whom I will identify by her nickname here, The Diva. She brought me up to speed on the romance between Mendeecees and hip-hop manager and fashion mogul Yandy Smith. And now Mendeecees was looking at significant prison time, which can either make for dramatic "reality" show moments or real difficulty in filming.
I wrote a story about the arrest, and, later, we covered and filmed Mendeecees Harris as he walked into federal court here, where his case is being heard. (The video is the one included here.)
Quickly we found out how popular the TV show was. The video view numbers were almost unparalleled, comparable to the spring filming of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 downtown. The Diva was far from alone in fandom, and I still had little clue about Mendeecees Harris.
I DVR'd an episode or two, fast forwarding to segments with Harris. This may sound sappy, but I was saddened when he said goodbye to his young son before heading off to jail to await trial. Any boneheaded parent thinking about engaging in crime should watch those few minutes. Maybe it was overly dramatized and scripted for TV - it appears the son is cognizant of the cameras and unsure just how to respond - but it's still painful.
Love & Hip Hop is now in a new season, one in which Mendeecees is mentioned but not featured (or at least so I've been told and read online). It appears the season may end with Harris' fate unresolved.
But that hasn't stopped a whole wealth of wrongheaded assumptions from making the rounds on social media. My favorite was the determination that Harris had pleaded guilty and been sentenced to federal prison. Some online sleuth deduced this by looking at the federal Bureau of Prisons web site and searching for Harris through the site's "inmate locator" function.
The response on the website was that Harris was not in Bureau of Prisons custody.
This "discovery" somehow morphed into a conclusion that Harris had pleaded guilty. Some online web sites even decided that he was snitching on alleged co-conspirators. However, the Bureau of Prisons website typically shows inmates awaiting trial as not in its custody, even though they are jailed at the time. Harris was simply in the same holding pattern as thousands of others across the country.
All of this happened months ago, but, with the show now back on the air, the bad information again began circulating in recent weeks. On Friday I saw at least a dozen Tweets from different individuals or reality show fan sites repeating the falsehoods over the previous 24 hours.
I've occasionally found myself Tweeting out the current status of the case against Mendeecees Harris, though those Tweets have done nothing to slow the erroneous information that circulates. Harris has not yet had a bail hearing, and at courtroom conferences it's been clear that there are discussions of a possible plea for him.
Walker has pleaded guilty, and Tyrus Harris is also still awaiting trial.
I've tried to get more information on the specific allegations, working to chase down the affidavits for search warrants that were used for the arrests. They apparently remain under seal.
I'm assuming I won't be writing about too many more intersections of celebrity and crime, though I've long hoped for a Willie Nelson marijuana bust here, just for the fun of it. Willie Nelson, I know something about.
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