By HBO has responded to allegations that have arisen in a Rolling Stone article earlier today, allegations stemming from a wrongful termination dispute with ex-HBO executive assistant Sully Temori.
The magazine says that according to text exchanges they reviewed, the network’s then-president of original programming Casey Bloys used what was dubbed a ‘secret army’ to push back against TV critics posting tepid reviews of HBO titles like “Run,” “The Nevers” and “Perry Mason”.
According to THR, the company has issued a statement in regards to the suit which alleges that Bloys and another executive directed Temori to post from burner Twitter accounts in order to undermine high-profile critics, as well as anonymous commenters on articles.
In a statement, a network spokesperson says: “HBO intends to vigorously defend against Mr. Temori’s allegations. We are not going to comment on select exchanges between programmers and errant tweets. 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.”
The magazine article indicates one of the burner accounts was from someone claiming to be a “Texas mom and herbalist,” whilst another slammed a critic for giving an HBO series a tepid review by allegedly saying they were “virtue signalling”.
Responses were also allegedly posted in the comments section of trade articles on Deadline. At least six overall instances are alleged to have occurred between June 2020 and April 2021.
Court documents detailing the messages are expected to be filed as part of the lawsuit. The Wrap adds that Bloys is due to speak to reporters on Thursday about the allegations.
Sources: Rolling Stone, The Wrap, THR
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