The chief executive of HBO has apologised after it emerged fake Twitter accounts were used to respond to unfavourable reviews of the network’s shows.
Casey Bloys, who is also the chief executive of streaming service Max, asking staff to create the accounts during lockdown.
It follows the publication of a story in Rolling Stone that gave details of a lawsuit that had been brought against him and HBO by Sully Temori who worked for the network between 2015 and 2021.
Mr Temori says his employment was wrongfully terminated in a matter separate to the creation of the Twitter accounts.
In papers being prepared for evidence in the case, Mr Bloys and Kathleen McCaffrey, HBO’s SVP of programming, are said to have discussed the use of fake Twitter accounts to respond to negative reviews of HBO shows including Perry Mason and Mare of Easttown.
Mr Temori has also said he posted anonymous comments on some articles on entertainment website Deadline in response to reader comments on HBO shows.
At a New York event held to promote HBO and Max’s upcoming programmes Mr Bloys the accounts were created at a time were created at a time where he was “working from home and doing an unhealthy amount of scrolling through Twitter”.
Some of the critics who were the target of the Tweets were said to be in the audience.
Rolling Stone’s article details some of the instances, which HBO has not denied, including a response to comments by Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone’s own TV critic on a series called The Nevers.
It was responded to by a ‘Kelly Shepherd’ described on her Twitter profile as a “Mom. Texan. Herbalist. Aromatherapist. Vegan.” In reality, ‘Kelly’ had been created by Mr Temori to respond to criticisms.
Her stock photo is found on a number of international websites.
