Omarion might or might not have asked for prayers after the deadly terror bombings in London, but he might need them now that he's got a major publicity headache.
The B2K alum and You Got Served star is distancing himself from a press release that said the singer, scheduled to play a gig Sunday in the besieged British capital, "would like his fans to pray that he has a safe trip and a safe return home."
The widely circulated statement, published on PR Newswire within hours of Thursday's bombings, was turned into a full-blown story by the news agency Reuters, which raised the question: With at least 49 rail and bus commuters dead, and hundreds more injured in the worst attack on London since World War II, why should Omarion be singled out for prayers?
"He wasn't hurt or anything, but just the fact that he was there and all that," Shana Gilmore, identified in the Reuters story as the entertainer's publicist, was quoted as saying.
The British entertainment site, ContactMusic.com, described Londoners as being "horrified" by Omarion's PR gambit.
On Friday, a statement attributed to Omarion's record label went up on his official Website (www.omariononline.com) disavowing the "unfounded" Reuters article--a downgrade from the "hoax" the site initially said had befallen the 20-year-old singer.
"Omarion regrets any association with the article and hopes that fans will not be taken in by unfounded and unauthorized statements," Sony Urban/Epic Records said.
The label said the "statements and sentiments" attributed to Omarion--presumably, the asking of prayers--"were never made by the performer." And it said Gilmore, whom it did not name, is "not a legitimate representative of the artist, is not known to the artist, and is not acting on the artist's behalf."
A Reuters spokesman could not be reached late Friday, but to MTV.com, the agency said it was standing by its story.
Omarion's Website, meanwhile, couldn't even stand by its own headline. By late afternoon, any suggestion that either the Reuters story or the press release was an out-and-out "hoax" had been removed.
In the end, it may turn out that Omarion's beef will be not with Reuters, but with a batch of crossed wires.
While PR Newswire is investigating the Omarion matter, spokeswoman Rachel Meranus said that the press release that started it all came from a legit source--the Los Angeles-based public relations firm, AR PR Marketing. The company previously has issued releases on behalf of T.U.G. Entertainment, Omarion's powerhouse management company, Meranus said.
In May, according to AR PR Marketing's Website (disabled as of late Friday), the firm teamed with T.U.G. to host a joint record-release party for Omarion's solo debut, O, and birthday bash for his half-brother, singer-actor Marques Houston.
Gilmore, whom Omarion's camp said "is not known to the artist," works for AR PR Marketing. But to MTV.com, even she denied working with Omarion. She said Reuters misquoted and misidentified her.
"This kind of sucks," Gilmore told MTV.com. "I didn't make those quotes. This is sad and it hurts."
Presumably, though, not as much as Londoners are hurting.
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