Posted by Andrew Unterberger on 12/29/2011 at 1:57 PM News

The Popdust Files: jon bon jovi, pranks, rumors, twitter

A couple weeks ago, a rumor spread throughout the internet that rock star/actor/professional smiler Jon Bon Jovi had passed away, causing spontaneous riots (of emotion) across the Garden State. Turned out, though, everything was totally cool, and JBJ even tweeted a pic of himself holding a sign saying “Heaven Looks a Lot Like New Jersey,” dated Dec. 19th, confirming his thorough OKness. So who would dare toy with the hearts of America by starting such a vile, false rumor? That would be Pennsylvania rock musician Jeffrey Goho, lead singer of the alt-metal band Minutia.

Don’t worry, though—Goho had a totally good, logical reason for starting the rumor: Irritation. Goho was annoyed at Jon Bon’s presence in media and the business world beyond his musical career, and decided to force America to confront his faux mortality to put things in perspective (or something). Goho discussed the matter with the Asbury Park Press:

All I heard was ‘Bon Jovi this,’ ‘Bon Jovi’s starting a restaurant.’ What was the latest one? The Advil commercial [featuring Bon Jovi]? It was like, ‘Jeez, [Bon Jovi] was a household name due to the music, not the business.’ So I’m not proud of it. I’m getting a lot of backlash from it, but as stupid as it sounds, that’s how it started. I just had a blurb and went with it.”

Well, to be honest, Jeff, you’re right—it doesn’t sound particularly intelligent. Of course, Goho knows this by now, since he’s felt the brunt of the backlash from JBJ fans who don’t see the humor in the prank, with Minutia’s Facebook page being littered with angry comments. “Please stop sending attached hate mail to my fellow band members,” Goho wrote in a status update. “They are in no way involved.” Yeah, well, tell that to Richie Sambora, if he ever stops crying.