HBO boss admits he used fake accounts to troll critics: ‘Dumb idea’
Bloys said using fake accounts to hit back at HBO's critics was a "very, very dumb idea"
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Casey Bloys, CEO and chairman of HBO, apologized for using fake accounts on social media to troll critics of the network’s programming, saying it was a "very, very dumb idea."
Bloys offered an apology on Thursday the day after a report by Rolling Stone revealed his use of fake profiles on X, formerly Twitter, to push back against critics’ rough reviews of HBO’s programs such as "Perry Mason" and "Mare of Easttown." The report included text messages sent in 2020 and 2021 that discussed the plan and were revealed as part of a wrongful termination lawsuit.
"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," Bloys said Thursday at an event outlining the network’s content calendar for next year, per The Hollywood Reporter. "I want people to love them. I want you all to love them. It’s very important to me what you all think of the shows.
"So when you think of that mindset, and then think of 2020 and 2021, I’m home, working from home and spending an unhealthy amount of scrolling through Twitter. And I came up with a very, very dumb idea to vent my frustration," he said.
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Casey Bloys speaks onstage during the Warner Bros. Discovery Upfront at The Theater at Madison Square Garden on May 17, 2023, in New York City. (Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images / Getty Images)
"Obviously, six tweets over a year and a half is not very effective," Bloys added. "But I do apologize to the people who were mentioned in the leaked emails, texts. Obviously, no nobody wants to be part of a story that they have nothing to do with."
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Bloys went on to say that he’s choosing to engage directly with critics who’ve offered views of HBO programming that he takes issue with rather than using fake accounts to do so.
"But also, as many of you know, I have progressed over the past couple of years to using DMs, so now, when I take issue with something in a review or take issue with something I see, many of you are gracious enough to engage with me in a back-and-forth and I think that is probably a much healthier way to go about this," he said.
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Casey Bloys speaks onstage during Variety's TV FYC Fest on June 7, 2023, in Los Angeles. (Randy Shropshire/Variety via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Bloys’ plan to use fake social media accounts, including those he encouraged employees to make, was revealed in one 2022 exchange highlighted in the wrongful termination lawsuit reported by Rolling Stone.
He took issue with a Vulture TV critic’s distaste for HBO’s "Perry Mason" when she tweeted, "Dear prestige TV. Please find some way to communicate male trauma besides showing me a flashback to the hero’s memories of trench warfare."
The review irritated Bloys, and he texted Kathleen McCaffrey, HBO’s SVP of drama programming, to suggest potential responses as well as the need to find someone to serve as a "mole" not directly linked to HBO’s leadership who would respond to the Vulture critic as a "random to make the point and make her feel bad."
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Rolling Stone reported that there were at least six times between June 2020 and April 2021 when Bloys and McCaffrey talked about using a "secret army" of fake social media accounts to respond to HBO’s critics.
HBO did not immediately respond to a request for comment.