I wouldn't give them that much credit. I think it's all just more posturing as the "bad boy" publisher who's just too cool to be businesslike. Fine and dandy for a rock musician (particularly one who's got a good manager to do damage control). Really bad for someone who hopes to enter into business partnerships.
And just stating the obvious: any website that hijacks visitors to another site when they click on a link - joke or not - is a site to be avoided.