The caged bird doesn't tweet: Twitter's Maya Angelou is a hoax
To the 2,495 people who are following Maya Angelou* on Twitter, prepare for some bad news: This caged bird is a fake.
The tweeting Angelou was revealed as a fraud today by her representative at Lordly & Dame, the Boston-based speaking agency. Her agent, David LaCamera, said he had reached out to Twitter when the bogus account first came to his attention a few weeks ago, but he received no satisfaction.
"It’s sad that this even goes on in our society," LaCamera said. "But anyone who reads it and knows her goes, 'Who the hell wrote this?' "
Not so fast, sir. We are not all as intimate with High Verse as you. The less discerning eye may see no reason to be suspicious of such poetic tweets as, "I am very sad. My friends are few... but my words runneth over," or, "I long, as does every human being, to be at home wherever I find myself," or even, "It is as important to love ourselves as much as the world around us."
What did LaCamera have against any of those uplifting sentiments?
"Let’s put it this way," he said. "It’s sophomoric versus doctoral."
Touche. But did the real Angelou know of her impostor?
"The funny thing is that even someone of her stature," he said, "although she speaks eight languages, she’s not necessarily very fluent in computerese. When she became aware of it, she basically shook her head."
Hear that, fake Angelou? Your few weeks of borrowed glory may now be coming to a close, but take heart! At least you speak computerese....
Updated, Feb. 26, 8:48 a.m.: The owner of the @mayaangelou Twitter account has posted an audio reply to this post, claiming she is indeed the genuine article: "Let me assure you my publicist does not monitor my online life, nor does he discourage me from reaching my audience by whatever means necessary." Impressive, but still: this is the age of multimedia chicanery, so we will withhold the retraction until we receive a satisfactory video response from the would-be Angelou.
Updated, Feb. 26, 1:14 p.m. The Angelou impersonator has come clean: she says she's actually a 20-year-old male artist named Lee. Closing the case, it should be noted that Lee does a pretty good Angelou impression.
*Updated, Feb. 26, 2:47 p.m. The phony Maya Angelou account has been nuked by Twitter. The new one may or may not be controlled by her representatives.
-- David Sarno [follow]
i assume the same is true about her very generic FACEBOOK account.
Posted by: Brady Westwater | February 25, 2009 at 05:18 PM
Maya Angelou's response Tweet: http://twitter.com/mayaangelou/status/1253901658
Oppps...
So, we'll see your retraction tomorrow?
Posted by: Kelly | February 26, 2009 at 07:32 AM
I received this link in a Tweet from the Maya Angelou account this morning: http://www.zshare.net/audio/56209889768238a3/
It appears to be a recording of Angelou claiming the account as her own. An impersonator or the real thing?
Posted by: | February 26, 2009 at 07:47 AM
Just published an article on the Dark Side of Twitter and this is indeed part of the dark side...
http://www.marketingprofs.com/9/dark-side-of-twitter-what-businesses-need-to-know-stelzner.asp
Posted by: Michael A. Stelzner | February 26, 2009 at 09:27 AM
There is need for a moment of pause.
I think this is a big DOH! moment for the mainstream media- if they had the journalistic instincts to follow up on this story before breaking it. Obviously, there's more to this story than the LA Times knows.
I look forward to seeing how it all plays out.
Stan Faryna
@Faryna
Posted by: Stan Faryna | February 26, 2009 at 01:06 PM
weird......
Posted by: B. Vandenheuvel | March 02, 2009 at 12:18 PM
Here's the real Lee: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbWmogCyMz8&feature=channel
He's my BFF, and I love him dearly! You gotta love his Maya impression! <3
-Sheila
Posted by: Sheila | March 02, 2009 at 08:49 PM