HBO staffer was forced to write mean tweets under anonymous accounts to TV critics who trashed the cable network’s shows, new lawsuit reveals
Claims by a former HBO employee have revealed that the network’s CEO demanded an employee create secret social media accounts to respond to online criticism.
In papers filed with the Los Angeles Superior Court, Sully Temori claims that Casey Bloys, the studio’s CEO, commanded a “secret army” to push back against TV critics who posted unfavorable reviews of HBO titles.
Temori’s wrongful termination and harassment lawsuit specifically targets HBO’s senior vice president of drama programming, Kathleen McCaffrey, who allegedly asked him to create fake accounts in June 2020.
He says Bloys was “obsessed with Twitter” and “always wanted to argue” on the platform.
McCaffrey allegedly instructed Temori on behalf of Bloys to create fake online accounts to respond to critics on social media and articles from other publications. Rolling stone reports.
The lawsuit revealed that the studio’s CEO, Casey Bloys, commanded a “secret army” to push back against TV critics who posted unfavorable reviews of HBO titles.
According to reports analyzed by the publication, Kathleen McCaffrey asked Temori to create fake accounts in June 2020, explaining that Bloys was “obsessed with Twitter” and “always wants to pick fights on Twitter”
“He’s always texting me asking me to find friends who can respond… is there a way to create a dummy account that can’t be traced back to us to fulfill his wishes,” asked McCaffrey him.
Temori’s attorney, Michael Martinez, told Rolling Stone that his client created a fake Twitter account to fulfill his bosses’ requests and began hitting back at critics.
An example of this was when the show, The Nevers, premiered in April 2021 and Rolling Stone’s chief TV critic Alan Sepinwall gave the show a two and a half star rating, which irritated Bloys.
McCaffrey soon texted Temori and said, “Casey is looking for a tweeter…he’s mad at Alan Sepinwall.
‘Can our secret agent please tweet at Alan’s review: “Alan is always predictably safe and fearful in his opinions.” And then we have to remove this chain, right? Omg I just got scared lol.”
The same day, a newly created account named “Kelly Shepherd,” a self-proclaimed mother and herbalist from Texas, responded to Sepinwall’s tweet about his review with the exact same message.
Soon, Shepherd began responding to multiple critics, criticizing them or praising HBO and Bloys in the comments section.
When the same show was criticized by New York Times chief TV critic James Poniewozik, Temeri was asked to write under his fake alias: “How shocking that two middle-aged white men (you and Hale) would shit on a show about women …… .’ under the tweet.
The account’s profile photo appeared to be a stock photo used on several international business websites. Martinez confirmed to Rolling Stone that Temori created the fake account under Shepherd’s name.
Bloys’ plot also involved Temori commenting on articles from other publications under his instructions.
The user had written, “HBO became a joke as soon as Lombardo left the current group of idiots. Blogs is a stubborn, useless puppet that has no sense. Orsi is dumb as a rock. Everything is nice, but no idea.’
The Nevers premiered in April 2021 and Rolling Stone’s chief TV critic Alan Sepinwall gave the show a two and a half star rating, which irritated Bloys.
When the same show was criticized by New York Times chief TV critic James Poniewozik, Temeri was asked to write under his fake alias: “How shocking that two middle-aged white men (you and Hale) would shit on a show about women …… .’ under the tweet
According to lyrics, Bloys asked, “Someone actually says we went downhill after Lombardo (former president of programming Michael) Lombardo left!” Please let them post, “Hi David Levine! HBO seems fine, thanks!’
His message was posted verbatim on Deadline’s website.
The network has not denied the existence of these messages and declined to comment on them. In a statement, a spokesperson said: “HBO intends to vigorously defend itself against Mr. Temori’s allegations.
“We’re not going to comment on select programmer exchanges and errant tweets.”
Temori sued a John Doe, claiming he was harassed because of his disability and sexual orientation.
The complaint also names The Weeknd (Abel Tesfaye) and two other executive producers of his show, The Idol, claiming they bullied Temori into pushing him out of his job at the studio.