HBO's chief executive Casey Bloys is addressing allegations that his division used fake Twitter accounts to undermine TV critics posting tepid reviews of network programming. He told the press in attendance, "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."
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00:00 HBO's chief executive Casey Bloys is addressing allegations that his division used fake Twitter
00:04 accounts to undermine TV critics posting tepid reviews of network programming.
00:09 At a presentation of HBO's 2024 content slate on Thursday, Bloys cast the Twitter accounts
00:14 as part of a pandemic-era "dumb idea."
00:16 He told the press in attendance, "For those of you who know me, you know that I am a programming
00:20 executive very, very passionate about the shows that we decide to do, and the people
00:24 who do them and the people who work on them.
00:26 I want the shows to be great."
00:28 Bloys continued, "So when you think of that mindset and then think of 2020 and 2021, I'm
00:33 working from home, spending an unhealthy amount of time scrolling through Twitter, and I came
00:37 up with a very, very dumb idea to vent my frustration."
00:39 The HBO chief elaborated, "Obviously six tweets over a year and a half is not very effective,
00:45 but I do apologize to the people who were mentioned in the leaked emails, texts.
00:49 Obviously nobody wants to be part of a story that they had nothing to do with.
00:52 But also, as many of you know, I have progressed over the past couple of years to using DMs.
00:56 So now when I take issue with something in a review or take issue with something I see,
01:00 I DM many of you and many of you are gracious enough to engage with me back and forth."
01:04 The allegations, first reported by Rolling Stone, were made by an ex-HBO executive assistant
01:09 in a lawsuit filed in July against HBO's senior vice president of drama programming and HBO's
01:14 head of drama, who sued his agendo in Los Angeles' Superior Court, alleging they were
01:19 harassed over their disability and sexual orientation.
01:22 For much more on this story, go to THR.com.
01:24 This is The Hollywood Reporter News.
01:29 (air whooshing)