Industry Noize: Ex-TAG Agent Sues Over Tweets

Joseph Cassiere claims he lost his job after being impersonated on Twitter by Shapiro, though he offers no direct evidence to prove the charge. He alleges he was made to look “foolish, inept and sexually perverted” because of “defamatory” tweets and retweets of the account “@QuotesOfJJ” that used Cassiere’s name and photograph in its profile.

A spokeswoman for The Agency Group told Pollstar that no one at the company is able to comment on the pending litigation.

The complaint was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court April 12.

Cassiere claims in the court documents that he confronted Shapiro numerous times, demanding to know if Shapiro created and used the account – which he denied.

However, Cassiere alleges that “numerous other individuals” told him Shapiro was responsible for tweets that caused “horrible stress and anxiety.”

One tweet allegedly posted by Shapiro from a personal account reads: “Hanging with @QuotesOfJJ his mom and his new Facebook girlfriend. Life is getting wild.”

Cassiere claims he emailed Shapiro in 2011 telling him to deactivate @QuotesOfJJ and received in response a meme of “Oprah Winfrey pointing and laughing with the text ‘YOU MAD?’”

Over time, Cassiere alleges, the tweets caused clients to “[lose] confidence in his ability to competently represent them” and he “continues to deal with the personal and professional damage, embarrassment, trauma and negativity directly caused by the defamatory @QuotesOfJJ Twitter account.”

Cassiere says he was terminated by TAG on March 27 “without warning,” though he describes being denied an expected raise at the end of 2013.

After his termination, Cassiere says he went to Coachella Music & Arts Festival in Indio, Calif., where he claims he was told “repeatedly” that his firing was because “bands and industry professionals didn’t take him seriously” and that his “perception and credibility was not good.”

He also says he was told again at Coachella that it was Shapiro “who created and operated the @QuotesOfJJ Twitter page,” but does not name names in his complaint.

Cassiere seeks an unspecified amount in actual and punitive damages under California Penal Code section 528.4(a) covering Internet impersonation and cyber-bullying, as well as defamation.

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