HBO boss Casey Bloys allegedly ordered staffers to create fake Twitter accounts... - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

TMC · 11-01-2023, 07:04 PM

...to troll TV critics

https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movi...ol-1234867722/

Casey Bloys, who oversees HBO and Max, apparently didn't like Vulture TV critic Kathryn VanArendonk subtweeting her disdain for Perry Mason in June 2020. So, according to text messages reviewed by Rolling Stone, he told Kathleen McCaffrey, HBO’s senior vice president of drama programming: “Maybe a Twitter user should tweet that that’s a pretty blithe response to what soldiers legitimately go through on (the) battlefield. Do you have a secret handle? Couldn’t we say especially given that it’s D-Day to dismiss a soldier’s experience like that seems pretty disrespectful … this must be answered!” Bloys added that they needed to find a “mole” at “arms length” from the HBO executive team. “We just need a random to make the point and make her feel bad," he wrote. According to Rolling Stone's Cheyenne Roundtree, "the exchange was one of at least six instances between June 2020 and April 2021 in which Bloys and McCaffrey discussed using what they called a 'secret army' to fire back at several TV critics on Twitter (now known as X) as well as anonymous commenters on articles about HBO programming, according to text exchanges reviewed by Rolling Stone. In this case, the two decided not to hit back at VanArendonk online. But in numerous instances, the HBO execs did just that, trolling the television critics with snarky responses from a fake Twitter account — and dropping pro-HBO comments on trade publication stories." Roundtree asked HBO for comment, and notes that "HBO did not dispute the legitimacy of the messages when approached for comment by Rolling Stone. In a statement, an HBO spokesperson said it would not 'comment on select exchanges between programmers and errant tweets.' VanArendonk confirmed she wrote the tweet but declined to comment further." After the article was published, VanArendonk tweeted: "i honestly cannot emphasize enough how hard i am laughing." Roundtree adds: "Rolling Stone reviewed the metadata associated with the messages, and verified their authenticity by linking the sender of the messages to a phone number registered to McCaffrey. What’s more, in four of the six cases, the language of the texts is an exact match for the language from the anonymous accounts." The messages come from a wrongful-termination lawsuit filed in July by former HBO and The Idol staffer Sully Temori against HBO, alleging he was harassed and faced retaliation and discrimination after disclosing a mental health diagnosis to his bosses.

11-01-2023, 07:04 PM	#1
TMC Member Forum Idol Join Date: Jan 09, 2001 Posts: 124,545	HBO boss Casey Bloys allegedly ordered staffers to create fake Twitter accounts... ...to troll TV critics https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movi...ol-1234867722/ Casey Bloys, who oversees HBO and Max, apparently didn't like Vulture TV critic Kathryn VanArendonk subtweeting her disdain for Perry Mason in June 2020. So, according to text messages reviewed by Rolling Stone, he told Kathleen McCaffrey, HBO’s senior vice president of drama programming: “Maybe a Twitter user should tweet that that’s a pretty blithe response to what soldiers legitimately go through on (the) battlefield. Do you have a secret handle? Couldn’t we say especially given that it’s D-Day to dismiss a soldier’s experience like that seems pretty disrespectful … this must be answered!” Bloys added that they needed to find a “mole” at “arms length” from the HBO executive team. “We just need a random to make the point and make her feel bad," he wrote. According to Rolling Stone's Cheyenne Roundtree, "the exchange was one of at least six instances between June 2020 and April 2021 in which Bloys and McCaffrey discussed using what they called a 'secret army' to fire back at several TV critics on Twitter (now known as X) as well as anonymous commenters on articles about HBO programming, according to text exchanges reviewed by Rolling Stone. In this case, the two decided not to hit back at VanArendonk online. But in numerous instances, the HBO execs did just that, trolling the television critics with snarky responses from a fake Twitter account — and dropping pro-HBO comments on trade publication stories." Roundtree asked HBO for comment, and notes that "HBO did not dispute the legitimacy of the messages when approached for comment by Rolling Stone. In a statement, an HBO spokesperson said it would not 'comment on select exchanges between programmers and errant tweets.' VanArendonk confirmed she wrote the tweet but declined to comment further." After the article was published, VanArendonk tweeted: "i honestly cannot emphasize enough how hard i am laughing." Roundtree adds: "Rolling Stone reviewed the metadata associated with the messages, and verified their authenticity by linking the sender of the messages to a phone number registered to McCaffrey. What’s more, in four of the six cases, the language of the texts is an exact match for the language from the anonymous accounts." The messages come from a wrongful-termination lawsuit filed in July by former HBO and The Idol staffer Sully Temori against HBO, alleging he was harassed and faced retaliation and discrimination after disclosing a mental health diagnosis to his bosses.