HBO used fake social media accounts to troll critics
HBOHBO executives allegedly used fake social media accounts to troll television critics, according to a recent report and a lawsuit filing.
HBO CEO Casey Bloys reportedly directed employees to use fake social media accounts to troll and attack critics online, according to Rolling Stone. The publication claimed that Bloys was angered by a post from a TV critic about its show ‘Perry Mason’ and went to a fellow high-ranking employee, Kathleen McCaffrey, to suggest that another user should respond in protest of the criticisms.
“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?” Bloys said in texts reviewed by Rolling Stone.
The CEO also said that they needed a random account to “make the point and make her feel bad.”
The messages, and the other instances of this alleged behavior, come from a wrongful termination lawsuit from a former HBO staffer, Sully Temori, against HBO, the company’s head of drama, The Weeknd, and others.
HBO wanted revenge against critics online
The lawsuit alleges that Temori was asked to create fake social media accounts to respond to critics, along with facing harassment and retaliation while employed as a temp and executive assistant.
Temori worked on “The Idol,” The Weeknd’s critically slammed drama, in August 2021, according to the filing. McCaffrey allegedly went to Temori to make the fake accounts in 2020 and said that the CEO was obsessed with Twitter and always looking to pick a fight.
“Alan missed on Succession and totally misses here because he is busy virtue signaling,” one of the alleged fake accounts said in response to a Rolling Stone TV critic.
Bloys was also looking over comments on Deadline articles about HBO and used anonymous accounts to respond to negative posts about programming and his tenure as CEO.
HBO has denied the allegations from Temori and said that it does not “comment on select exchanges between programmers and errant tweets” to Rolling Stone.