In the early days of the pandemic, many of us got a little punchy while being cooped up at home. Admittedly, the landscape of entertainment wasn’t as robust as the 2023 TV schedule seems by comparison (at least in the pre-strike days), and people had their own ways of letting off steam. HBO CEO Casey Bloys took things farther than most, though, and he admitted to engaging in the “very, very dumb idea” of starting fake Twitter accounts dedicated to trolling critics and others sharing negative reviews regarding his network’s projects.
The Story Of Casey Bloys’ 'Very Very Dumb' Twitter Account
A crazy twist to this story is that we’re just finding out now, thanks to Bloys’ being publicly exposed during a recent HBO event (via THR). Allegations were already floating tied to faux social media accounts from high-profile execs, per a Rolling Stone report, and in the midst of the CEO presenting an outlook for both Max's and the premium cabler's 2024 programming picture, he made the following admission:
For those of you who know me, you know that I am a programming executive, very, very passionate about the shows that we decided to do, and the people who do them and the people who work on them, I want the shows to be great. So when you think of that mindset, and then think of 2020 and 2021. I’m home working from home, spending an unhealthy amount of time scrolling through Twitter. And I came up with a very, very dumb idea to vent my frustration.
The allegations in question are tied to texts from Casey Bloys encouraging at least one employee to “go on a mission” to engage a TV critic on social media. It was a post about the recently canceled Perry Mason that sparked this particular flame, and it led to several further instances of Bloys using Twitter as a way to combat seemingly subpar reactions to then-new HBO shows. Upon looking back at his publicly exposed actions, the CEO has apologized for those past transgressions.
Casey Bloys’ Response To The Fake Tweet Scandal
Admitting one made a mistake tends to be the first big step towards mending fences, and that’s exactly what it feels like Casey Bloys attempted to do with his response. Further fleshing out the story of his Twitter activities, and the aftermath that’s currently playing out, the HBO bigwig also claimed to have learned the following lessons in social media communication, saying:
Obviously, six tweets over a year and a half is not very effective. But I do apologize to the people who were mentioned in the leaked email, texts. Obviously, nobody wants to be part of a story that they had nothing to do it. But as also, as many of you know, I have progressed over the past couple of years, and using DM so now when I take issue with something in review, or take issue with something I see. I DM many of you, and many of you are gracious enough to engage with me back and forth.
Was what Casey Bloys did “very very stupid?” That’s more of a discussion for an open forum, and one can be sure those kinds of discussions are happening as we speak. However, by revealing the headspace he was in and the steps he’s taken as a lesson learned after the fact, the media exec at least made his apology come across as more than just word soup for those in attendance.
Now if we could get someone to admit that canceling Westworld one season shy of completion was a mistake, or that removing Zack Snyder’s Justice League for Europeans with Max subscriptions was an equally huge misstep. In the meantime, keep your eyes and ears open for news coming out of HBO’s presentation today, as who knows what other potential bombshells and exciting reveals could occur.
