Joan Jett Replaces CeeLo Green At Louisiana Music Festival
Joan Jett is reaping the benefits of CeeLo Greens recent transgressions. The female rocker is actually reaping the benefits of suddenly becoming an artist people appreciate again as she’s been making quite a few headlines in the last few weeks. This time, she’s making headlines as the replacement act at a Louisiana music festival in October.
The Gretna Heritage Festival have released a statement saying Ceelo Green no longer embodies the “wholesome family image” the event organizers want to convey according to TMZ. Instead, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, hardly known for their folksy charm will be the lead act for the concert. Green has been having a rough late summer, first seeing his new reality show canceled after controversial rape comments and then filing a plea for his arrest on charges related to ecstasy.
It was the arrest and subsequent “no contest” charge that appears to have convinced organizers of the Gretna Heritage Festival to go a different route for their headliner. The charges for which the former Goodie Mob member pled actually date back to July of 2012, when police claim he gave an unnamed woman the drug. Prosecutors waited until September of last year before they determined they would indeed pursue criminal charges against the “F– You” crooner.
The Times Picayune reports CeeLo Green entered the no-contest plea on August 29, prompting the Gretna Heritage festival to make the change to Joan Jett and her band. The man who might be best known as the lead singer for the group Gnarls Barkley, received three years of formal probation for his plea and ordered to complete 360 hours of community service, as well as 52 Alcoholics Anonymous and/or Narcotics Anonymous meetings.
With that dealt with, the former The Voice judge can go back to dealing with tweets he made about rape and the following non-apology, apology he issued after his comments drew fire. Among the most heinous were claims made by CeeLo Green that it isn’t really rape if the woman doesn’t remember it. This seems to be a direct reference to his charges of slipping the woman ecstasy back in 2012. CeeLo Green also claimed he had been exonerated by pleading no-contest in his case.
With all of this behavior, it’s hardly a mystery why the Gretna Heritage music festival would choose to go with Joan Jett. While its first choice might have always seemed odd for the family focused Gretna Heritage group Joan Jett has managed to remake her career in the last few months and this is just another step in that direction.
