HBO chief Casey Bloys apologizes for directing staff to secretly troll critics on social media

By CNN Newsource

Published November 2, 2023 8:37 am

By Liam Reilly , CNN

New York (CNN) — HBO chief executive Casey Bloys apologized Thursday for directing staff to anonymously fire back at TV critics online, calling it a “very dumb idea.”

On Wednesday, Rolling Stone published a report that cited text messages obtained as part of a lawsuit filed by former HBO executive assistant Sully Temori that showed Bloys asking employees to troll critics sharing unfavorable reviews of HBO and Max content on social media.

“I have progressed over the last couple of years to DMs,” Bloys said Thursday at the HBO and Max 2024 Slate Presentation in New York. “When I take issue with something, I DM you. Many of you are gracious enough to engage in a back and forth with me.”

Bloys said that the text messages, sent in 2020 and 2021, were sent at a time when he was at home during the Covid-19 pandemic and “spending an unhealthy amount of time scrolling Twitter.”

“I apologize to the people mentioned in the leaked emails, texts — no one wants to be part of a story they have nothing to do with,” Bloys said.

HBO is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, CNN’s parent company.

The lawsuit, filed in July 2023 by Temori, alleges that he was harassed and discriminated against while working at HBO, and that the company failed to provide him with reasonable accommodation. It also alleges retaliation and wrongful termination.

In a statement, HBO did not deny the social media campaign and said it intended to defend itself in Temori’s suit.

“HBO intends to vigorously defend against Mr. Temori’s allegations. We are not going to comment on select exchanges between programmers and errant tweets,” a spokesperson said. “We look forward to a full and fair resolution of this dispute. In the meantime, we wish Mr. Temori, a former HBO employee, well in his future endeavors.”

CNN could not independently confirm the contents of the messages, but according to Rolling Stone, there were at least six occasions on which Bloys texted colleagues about directing what they called a so-called “secret army” — which included Temori — to undermine reporters online.

Bloys took aim at such reporters as Kathryn VanArendonk, a critic at New York Magazine’s Vulture, and Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone’s chief TV critic, the outlet reported. After VanArendonk posted several unfavorable tweets about HBO’s “Perry Mason” ahead of the show’s launch, a purportedly “annoyed” Bloys crafted a message via text, which eventually found its way online via a “mole,” Rolling Stone reported.

“A somewhat elitist take,” read Bloys’ rebuttal of VanArendonk’s tweet, the outlet reported. “Is there anything more traumatic for men (and now women) than fighting in a war. Sorry if that seems too convenient for you.”

A searing review of “The Nevers” by Sepinwall was likewise met by a Bloys-issued rebuke, Rolling Stone showed.

“Alan is always predictably safe and scared in his opinions,” a fake account tweeted at Sepinwall. Texts obtained as part of the lawsuit show that Bloys messaged HBO Senior Vice President of Drama Programming Kathleen McCaffrey about Sepinwall’s review, spelling out the post before it went live.

“Can our secret operative please tweet at Alan’s review: ‘Alan is always predictably safe and scared in his opinions,’” Bloys’ text reads. “And then we have to delete this chain right? Omg I just got scared lol.”

Bloys also allegedly took issue with the comments below articles, Rolling Stone reported. On one occasion, a user who lambasted HBO, saying the network “is dying. Terrible move to get rid of [Former HBO CEO Richard] Plepler. New guy sucks.” was met with a rebuke from an anonymous user reading “Plepler was 2000’s, the future is Bloys.”