The head of the American pay TV network called for mocking critics from fake accounts

The company will sue former employees

Employees of the American pay television network HBO created fake accounts to troll people who criticized their projects. Rolling Stone reports that HBO chief Casey Bloys ordered this to “find the mole who was making his point this way and making all the critics feel bad.” According to the leaked data, it was a whole secret army.

Rumors of leaked messages that suggested HBO was creating fake social media accounts and trolling critics who don’t like their shows have been confirmed, Rolling Stone reports. HBO CEO Casey Bloys apologized at a Nov. 2 press conference to aggrieved critics following the Rolling Stone article. The piece itself contained incriminating evidence that Bloys instructed employees to create fake social media accounts to troll journalists who gave bad reviews of the HBO show.

Bloys spoke to members of the media, some of whom were the very critics who had been trolled, and admitted that he had spent an “unhealthy amount of time” on social media site X, formerly known as Twitter, during the pandemic. Afterwards, he discussed with his staff the creation of a “secret department” to deal with bad reviews and critics.

“It means a lot to me what you all think of the show,” Bloys said, “Then think about 2020 and 2021, I was working from home and spending an unhealthy amount of time on social media. And I came up with a very, very stupid idea to vent my frustration.”

Rolling Stone reported that on at least six occasions between June 2020 and April 2021, Bloys and HBO senior vice president of drama programming Kathleen McCaffrey discussed creating accounts to respond to TV critics on social media and anonymous posters on articles. Deadline, according to reports obtained by Rolling Stone.

Bloys added: “I apologize to the people who were mentioned in the leaked emails, messages. Obviously, no one wants to be part of a story that they have nothing to do with.”

Bloys reportedly wanted someone to respond to Vulture TV critic Catherine Vanarendonk’s tweet about Perry Mason; Alan Sepinwall of Rolling Stone for his reviews of other projects; and to James Poniwozik and Mike Hale of The New York Times for their poor review of The Incredibles.

“Who can go on a mission. We just need the occasional occasion to speak our minds and make her feel bad,” the company’s CEO writes in the messages. Then a newly created account under the name Kelly Shepherd, a Texas mom and herbalist, responded to Sepinwall’s tweet about his review.

Bloys also directed his junior aides to create accounts to respond to anonymous comments on the controlled publication Deadline in July 2020, according to the texts. It was halfway that an anonymous user said Run “wasn’t a good show” and spoke harshly of the HBO era under Bloys.

Recall that in July 2023, the company was sued for wrongful termination by former HBO employee Sally Temori, HBO drama director Francesca Orsi, as well as Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye and two producers of The Idol. It will be tried in Los Angeles Superior Court. The case alleges that Temori was harassed and faced discrimination after disclosing his mental illness, and was assigned non-work related duties such as creating fake online accounts to respond to critics. Published messages will be used as evidence in court.

In a statement to Rolling Stone, Temori’s lawyer Michael Martinez says the lyrics exemplify a “very petty” corporate culture that ultimately backfired on his client: “They make jokes about people outside of HBO, they make jokes about people inside HBO… You you suffer from bullying.”