Jack White has not held back his disdain for The Black Keys, and last night that tension apparently came to a head. According to Black Keys drummer Patrick Carney, White attempted to fight him while at a bar in New York City last night.
“I’ve never met Jack White until last night,” Carney explained on Twitter. “He came to a bar in NYC I go to a lot with a few friends and tried to fight me. I don’t fight and don’t get fighting but he was mad!!!”
“He is why I play music,” Carney continued. “The bully assholes who made me feel like nothing. Music was a private non competitive thing,” adding, “A 40 year old bully tried to fight the 35 year old nerd.”
Carney concluded his tweets with one last pot shot, writing, “Jack White is basically Billy Corgan’s dumb ass Zero t-shirt in human form.”
Update — 9:35 a.m: White has responded to Carney’s comments. In a statement to Entertainment Weekly, he said: “Nobody tried to fight you, Patrick. Nobody touched you or ‘bullied’ you. You were asked a question you couldn’t answer so you walked away. So quit whining to the Internet and speak face to face like a human being. End of story.”
Update – 11:05 a.m.: Carney says he spoke to White for an hour, and it’s “all good.”
Update – 11:30 a.m.: White expressed a similar sentiment on Third Man Record’s Twitter.
“From one musician to another, you have my respect Patrick Carney.” -Jack White
— Third Man Records (@thirdmanrecords) September 14, 2015
Read Carney’s original tweets in full below.
White has long accused The Black Keys ripping off his sound, and allegedly prevented the band from using his Nashville studio. In May 2014, however, White sought to clarify his thoughts, writing in an open letter, “I wish [the band] all the success that they can get.”
