Why did NECN’s Jenny Johnson get into a Twitter war with singer Chris Brown over the weekend? She didn’t, but RollingStone.com and a couple of other celebrity websites seemed to think she did. Confused? We were, too. It started Sunday when a Houston-based comedy writer named Jenny Johnson
tweaked Brown on Twitter, and he responded nastily. Without repeating the pair’s profane back-and-forth, the spat can be summarized thusly: The Houston-based Johnson thinks the R&B singer is a jerk because he abused
Rihanna, and Brown crudely suggests Johnson shut her mouth. The exchange lasted until Brown, who has 11.6 million followers on Twitter, deactivated his account. Several websites reported the online argument, but Rolling Stone’s post included a photo of the Jenny Johnson who is Billy Costa’s blond “TV Diner” sidekick, not the blond Jenny Johnson who writes jokes for a living. The photo was eventually pulled. “It’s crazy, right?” said the local Johnson (inset top), when we reached her Monday. She also received e-mails from MTV.com and Hollywood
.com requesting interviews. “Are you the same Jenny Johnson who had the spat . . . with Chris Brown on Twitter last night?” wrote an editor at Hollywood.com. “I’d love to talk to you about perhaps writing up an opinion piece about the situation. We are not exactly what you’d call fans of Chris’ here, and we would love to hear your take on the situation in your own words — as would our readers, we’re sure.” While Johnson, the comedy writer (inset bottom), was barraged with angry and, in some cases, threatening e-mails from Brown’s fans Monday, NECN’s Johnson was not. But she did get manage a few more followers on Twitter.