UPDATE 2: Another email received at 3:36 p.m. from Patrick Bruner said, “I got hoaxed. Radiohead was never confirmed. Completely our fault. Apologies. The band were victims in this hoax as well.”
UPDATE: In an email received at 3:10 p.m., Patrick Bruner, who has served as a point person for media inquires for Occupy Wall Street, said, “The concert is unconfirmed. Sorry about this – I’m in the dark as much as you as to what’s going on right now.”
The subject of the email read: RECEIVING CONFLICTING REPORTS – RETRACT PREVIOUS STATEMENT ABOUT RADIOHEAD AT #OCCUPYWALLSTREET
Bruner had originally sent an email at 12:23 p.m. that said, “Radiohead will play a surprise show for #occupywallstreet today at four
in the afternoon. Press conference at one in the afternoon. “
At a press conference called by Occupy Wall Street protesters, Hero Vincent, a 21-year-old artist who identified himself as a PR person for the movement, said that Radiohead is expected to play a short set at Zuccotti Park today.
“It is confirmed. It will happen at 4 o’clock,” he told a small swarm of reporters just after 1 p.m.
Vincent said there has been no permit obtained for Radiohead’s appearance.
“If anything happens, that is all risk we are taking,” he told reporters.
He went on to ask the media to refrain from trying to interview Radiohead and other celebrities who visit the protest until Occupy Wall Street’s own media team has a chance to speak with them first.
28-year-old Alex Carvalho, who says he is a Brazilian-born physician who attended medical school in Rio de Janiero and is now unemployed said Radiohead got in touch this morning.
“They said they wanted to support the campers. They didn’t want to make a fuss out of it,” said Carvalho. “They just want to give support to people who are sleeping here, taking rain on the head, being pepper sprayed.”
When asked if the band mentioned identifying with the message of the protesters, Carvahlo responded, “No.”
However, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that Radiohead is not, in fact, planning to play in support of the movement today.
“We can officially confirm this is NOT happening,” Steve Martin of Nasty Little Man, the firm that represents Radiohead, told the WSJ in an email.
When asked about this, Carvahlo responded that he isn’t sure whether it is still happening, but last he heard, it was scheduled. He said the band asked that protesters make the announcement at noon Friday to attract “at least a moderate crowd.”
He would not, however, confirm who exactly he spoke with to confirm Radiohead’s appearance but did hint that it was someone “official” from or with the band.
