HBO CEO Casey Bloys asked staff to create fake accounts on Twitter to respond to critics who tweeted negatively about its shows, Rolling Stone reports, based on the contents of a lawsuit against the company. HBO has not disputed the allegation.
The lawsuit was filed by former HBO employee Sully Temori against the company and a number of its higher-ups, including Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye and others who worked on his show The Idol. The lawsuit alleges Temori, who worked for the company in various roles from 2015 until he was laid off in 2021, was subject to harassment, discrimination, and retaliation after he disclosed a mental health diagnosis. Temori also claims he was made to perform menial tasks not related to his role–including creating fake accounts to respond to critics.
Messages between Temori and Kathleen McCaffrey, HBO’s senior vice president of drama programming, show McCaffrey asking for Temori’s help with Twitter. She explains that Bloys, who was then HBO’s president of original programming, was “obsessed with Twitter” and “always wants to pick a fight on Twitter.” McCaffrey goes on to ask: “Is there a way to create a dummy account that can’t be traced to us to do his bidding.”