HBO CEO Admits To ‘Secret’ Burner Accounts to Troll TV Critics

The CEO of HBO and Max Casey Bloys created fake Twitter accounts to troll critics who posted negative reviews about series on HBO.

The fake accounts were brought to attention during a wrongful termination lawsuit former HBO staffer Sully Temori filed against the company.

Temori turned over materials that included texts from Bloys imploring lower-level staffers to create fake accounts on Twitter to respond to critics.

Rolling Stones published the details Wednesday:

Though not included in the lawsuit itself, Rolling Stone referenced alleged 2020 and 2021 text messages between Bloys and SVP of drama programming Kathleen McCaffrey. In the alleged text exchanges, Bloys and McCaffrey repeatedly discussed replying to critics who spoke negatively about HBO series, including “Perry Mason” and “Mare of Easttown,” by using fake Twitter accounts. Rolling Stone says these text messages, provided by Temori, were reviewed and verified via their metadata.

Bloys admits the allegations are true. He issued an apology Thursday:

“For those of you who know me, you know that I am a programming executive who is very, very passionate about the shows that we decide to do. And the people who do them and the people who work on them,” Bloys said Thursday morning at the start of a presentation at HBO’s New York headquarters, an event to promote HBO and Max’s 2024 slate of programming, which has been planned since Oct. 16. “I want the shows to be great. 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 come up with a very, very dumb idea to vent my frustration.”

The saga demonstrates how insecure those we consider indestructible are.

Bloys heads one of the leading entertainment services in the world. He's in charge of the most prestigious television library in the industry.

And yet he spent ample time out of his daily grind to get back at random journalists who critiqued shows that fell under his umbrella.

Bloys is no different than the media figures who frantically text and direct message writers who report on their blunders...

He's no different than basketball star Kevin Durant who created several burner accounts to defend himself against fans on social media.

See, success doesn't make you more secure. Success often diminishes your self-confidence because you become immersed in the opinions of strangers.

By the way, if Casey Bloys wants people to like him on the internet, he should go ahead and give fans what they want:

The rumored Jon Snow sequel series.