Casey Bloys is making himself out to be quite the pariah. Just recently, HBO had a lawsuit filed against them for ordering staffers to create fake twitter accounts to go after critics for their responses to HBO releases. Bloys is now trying to justify the decision, stating it was a pandemic-induced “dumb idea.”
At an HBO presentation for their 2024 slate, Bloys tried to [badly] defend and explain his actions. “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. “So when you think of that mindset, and then think of 2020 and 2021. I’m working from home, spending an unhealthy amount of time scrolling through Twitter. And I came up with a very, very dumb idea to vent my frustration.”
Power-Tripping on Twitter
Bloys really has no excuse. Is it only because he got caught that he’s trying to justify his actions? According to the filer of the lawsuit, ex-HBO executive assistant Sully Temori, Bloys “was obsessed with Twitter.” HBO’s senior VP, Kathleen McCaffrey asked Temori if there was a way to make accounts without tying them back to HBO or Bloys. “Is there a way to create a dummy account that can’t be traced to us to do his bidding.” After which point Temori was constantly prodded to make “angry” twitter posts in response to critics reviewing shows negatively.
It’s absolutely ridiculous for a head of a company as large as HBO to do something like this. Negative reviews are part and parcel of creating entertainment for the masses. The idea that someone would be so thin-skinned as to create dummy social media accounts to scream “this person’s wrong and dumb” gives you an idea of Bloys’ true colors. It wasn’t just about protecting HBO projects, it was an ego trip.
We’ll let you know what we hear about the lawsuit and any other related news.
