We Got The Tweet: The Imposters
Twitter has revolutionized the way celebrities broadcast what they ate for lunch. In this column, Stereogum founder @scottgum tracks the latest rock star Tweets and Twends.
Twitter users were outraged last week when the service shut down @CWalken, a popular but totally fake celebrity account. Indeed it's way too easy to be duped by fake profiles. (So easy!) Not that folks care -- Tina Fey disowned her Twitter yet still has over 220k followers -- but you should know some of the celebrities you follow are actually 14-year-old boys with too much free time. With that in mind, and since it's April Fool's Day, in this week's column I'm gonna focus on some fishy Twitters and will attempt to separate the legit rock stars from the hoaxers. Let's play #detective.
@tomwaits (Tom Waits)
Since last spring, over 12k fans have been reading this guy's daily observations. He invited himself to @BarackObama's house! LOL? The tone isn't quite right, of course. And do you really think Tom is retweeting insults from his iPhone? @AntiRecords officially labelled it a phony last week.
VERDICT: FAKE
@PerryFarrell (Perry Farrell)
It's been active for six weeks, but claims only 2382 followers. While he never bothered to upload an avatar, Perry's updates are vague enough to be taken at face value. Turns out @DaveNavarro6767 is following him. And that guy follows mostly porn stars.
VERDICT: REAL
@DavidGrohl (Dave Grohl)
@DaveGrohl came out as a fake last month. But "David" Grohl is still at it, checking in regularly since November. Foo me once...
VERDICT: FAKE
@BenjaminGibbard (Ben Gibbard)
This one's a little more involved. @SeattleDreamer claimed to be the Death Cabbie until real-life bandmate Nick Harmer called him out the other day: "trust me, I know, this person is a fake. Ben doesn't twitter." Fast forward to yesterday, when @BenjaminGibbard started an account while doing some laundry. He only follows @ColinMeloy, who acknowledged him. Long Winter frontman @JohnRoderick even vouched for him. Until he recanted. Management confirms it's not Ben. Even rock star Tweeters get duped. Nice pic, though.
VERDICT: FAKE
@Robyn_Hitchcock (Robyn Hitchcock)
Active since November, this dude's page says he's Tweeting from
"The Seasonal Stomach of Telepa." Bio: "If death is not the end, I'd like to know what is." And his Tweets are just as pretentious: "A Turkey. Naked, frozen regret. He declared himself the sentinel of my own skinless nightmares. He is called Henry. He enjoys the Post." You're trying too hard.
VERDICT: FAKE
@TheMozzer (Morrissey)
It's been active since the end of December ... the real Moz would have more than 800 followers by now. Like Mr. Grohl, this one is way too enthusiastic about responding to every follower. That's often a giveaway. Also, frequent references to Moz song titles? Unfollow.
VERDICT: FAKE
@50Cent (50 Cent)
Curtis has over 250k followers! They all want to know what Fiddy ate for lunch. His bio says The Real 50 Cent, but his updates are actually written by his Webmaster, Chris Romero, according to NY Times. "50 doesn't actually use Twitter, but the energy of it is all him."
VERDICT: GHOST
@CourtneyLover79 (Courtney Love)
This account is hilarious and sorta terrifying. She posts every minute, mostly about drugs (she doesn't do any), money (she doesn't have any), and celebrities (who ignore her). Courtney's now being sued for defaming her former fashion designer 140 characters at a time.
VERDICT: REAL
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If there's someone on Twitter we should be following, Tweet a message to @stereogum or shout out in the comments.
Posted at 2:28 PM by Scott in We Got The Tweet
Tags: 50 Cent | Ben Gibbard | Courtney Love | Dave Grohl | Morrissey | Perry Farrell | Robyn Hitchcock | Tom Waits
dood, this is getting ridiculous. "stereogum @perezhilton. Let's make out."
Score = 2
While Morissey's updating everyone on what he currently hates, Johnny Marr is probably helping out behind the scenes without getting credit on somebody's half-attempted Twitter side project.
Score = 14
I hope this Twitter trend will die out soon. It's the biggest waste of time.
Score = 9
What about http://twitter.com/NeilDiamond? Please advise.
Score = 3
Wait never mind. It's bogus, purely based on this NeilDiamond: @freddurst I'd love to, where and when?
Score = 0
It's actually real! Twitter feed is linked on the homepage of Neil's official site
http://www.neildiamond.com/
Willie seems fake to me, though:
http://twitter.com/willienelson
Score = 0
What the fuck is he doing tweeting with Fred Durst?
Score = -1
Funny about the fakes - but here's the list of musicians (indie and big) who have Twitter accounts. It's open so you can add your thoughts on frequency,worthiness and such. Good stuff: http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=phtgMLGe8aahYaH0pRs7VHg
Score = 1
EW, and Neil's tweet to Durst was in response to this: freddurst @NeilDiamond I am a huge fan of yours. We should do a collaboration - Neil DIamond meets my band Limp Bizkit. Sounds fresh.
BARF.
Score = 0
amazing how this piece of shit twitter website has been pushed down everyone's throats like it's something meaningful.
Score = 14
Liam Gallagher's twitter is bound to be fake. Not nearly enough use of "wanker".
Score = 4
Actually, Nick didn't delete his account he just changed his name to "onewhoharms"
Score = 0
Ahh, thanks.
Score = 0
He just Twittered: I've got diarrhea in Korea! LG. Great to know
Score = 2
i am really disappointed the benjamin gibbard one is fake! thetriangle of updates between him, meloy and roderick were hilarious!
Score = 0
Stop this twittering madness
Score = 2
Hmmm...
From rpecknold (REAL):
We are playing one east coast fest that's not announced yet that I am SO PUMPED ABOUT!!!about 1 hour ago from web
Score = 0
@trent_reznor is the real deal. @the_donnas are also the rela deal. They even share their photos through TwitPic.
Regards
/Johan @Friendsofmusic
Score = 0
What about Chris Carabba? @dashboardchris
I'm rather doubtful...
Score = 0
Anyone see this one? Its hysterical!
@BethStern
Score = 0
Ed Droste and Owen Pallett's twitters are two of the most consistently entertaining and awesome things on the Internet. Let the curmudgeons mutter, but they're missing out.
Score = 0
I just don't envision Morrissey referring to himself as "The Mozzer" to begin with...funny, but, twitter = such a damned waste of time about useless random thoughts nobody really cares about most of the time anyway?
Kind of like my post. Sigh.
Score = 1
How about Steve Buscemi?
Score = 0