HBO CEO and Chairman Chief Casey Bloys has responded to reports that he and other HBO execs would “troll” TV critics on social media, acknowledging the move wasn’t smart.
During a 2024 programming presentation on Thursday, Bloys opened up talks by mentioning a Rolling Stone report that alleged that Bloys and other execs would use secret or “burner” accounts on Twitter to troll critics.
“We’re here to talk about ’24, but I thought we might as well talk about it up front,” Bloys said (via Deadline). “For those of you who know me, you know I am a programming executive who is very, very passionate about the shows that we decide to do and the people who do them and the people who work on them. I want the shows to be great. I want people to love them. I want you all to love them. It’s very, very important to me what you think of all the shows.”
Bloys attributes decision to spending “an unhealthy amount of time” on social media
Bloys went on to admit that during 2020 and 2021 when he and mostly everyone else was at home during the COVID-19 pandemic, he spent “an unhealthy amount of time” on social media. As a result, he came up with a “very, very dumb idea” to vent his frustration.
“So when you think of that mindset, and think of 2020 and 2021, I am home, working from home, spending an unhealthy amount of time scrolling through Twitter and I come up with a very, very dumb idea to vent my frustration,” said Bloys. “Obviously, six tweets over a year and a half is not very effective. But I do apologize to the people who were mentioned in the leaked emails and texts. Obviously, nobody wants to be part of a story they had nothing to do with.”
“But also as many of you know, I have progressed over the past couple of years to using DMs. Now, when I take issue with something in a review or take issue with something I see, I DM many of you and many of you are gracious enough to engage with me in a back and forth. It’s a probably a much healthier way to go about this.”
Rolling Stone’s report on Thursday alleges that Bloys would take issue with various reviews on HBO programming. As a result, the report mentions that Bloys would suggest to HBO’s SVP of drama programming Kathleen McCaffrey that people should respond to their criticism on Twitter.
