When tweets go wrong (part 2)

Social media can be a useful tool for sharing news and spreading information. It can also be a useful platform for media outlets to spread propaganda. However, as many celebrities, 'news' organisations and even regular people have discovered, on some occasions tweets can backfire on you.

All of which is just a long-winded way of saying that this week's blog post takes another look at when tweets go wrong.

1) Artistic masterpiece

Andrew Marr came in for ridicule when he tweeted an image of one of his drawings with the accompanying message, "I've been doing lockdown drawings and once this nightmare is over, I'd like to sell them to raise cash for NHS and care home charities."

"It's a masterpiece!"

Unsurprisingly, the response wasn't very positive...

"If a child drew that, I still wouldn't put it on my fridge."

"How much do we have to pay for you to consign those scribbles to the bin?"

"You're going to regret this tweet I fear, Andrew!"

Spot the difference.

"How could you conceivably charge for this?"

"I think this one is called 'Scribbles Of A Madman'.

"April Fools' Day was a week ago, Andrew."

Mockery is the sincerest form of flattery.
Isn't that how the saying goes?

"Good luck with that! Might be someone who’d stick it up in their garden shed to remind them what an absolute **** you are."

"My three year old is open for lessons... If you want him to teach you."

And the most brutal response of all...

"Did you eat the red crayon?"

2) Washington Post Death Notices

After al-Baghdadi, the genocidal terrorist and leader of ISIS was executed, the Washington Post took propaganda to new levels when they wrote a glowing obituary describing al-Baghdadi not as a genocidal terrorist, but as an 'austere religious cleric'.

The shockingly unbelievable tweet from the Washington Post.

As you can imagine, this prompted intense ridicule for the Washington Post, with the #WaPoDeathNotices hashtag providing multiple mocking obituaries of similarly evil figures from history and fiction...

"Cambodian reformer and advocate of collective farming, Pol Pot, dies at home, aged 72."

"Thanos, austere advocate for global sustainability principles and population control, passes away."

"Alphonse Capone, prominent liquor distributor, boxing promoter and supporter of St. Valentines Day activities, dies prematurely at 48."

"Emperor Palpatine, fearless leader who brought peace to the galaxy, dies after a fall."

The Washington Post remembers Emperor Palpatine.

"Mao Zedong, who saved 20-45 million of his own people from having to suffer through the struggle of existence, dies at 82."

"Attila the Hun, world traveler and government administrator, dies at 47."

"Joseph Stalin, advocate of a strong working class and population control, dies at 74"

"Michael Myers, noted Halloween activist and recluse, passes away until the next sequel."

"Jeffrey Epstein, famed party planner to the Hollywood elite, dies at 66."

Despite the well-deserved ridicule, the Washington Post still failed to learn their lesson and posted a similarly glowing obituary when mass murdering terrorist Qasem Soleimani was killed!

3) Les Dennis accused of bad behaviour in pub

Finally, this last tweet wasn't quite as bad as whitewashing the crimes of a terrorist, but it was nevertheless similarly dishonest. @RickB560 falsely accused Les Dennis of swearing at his 2 year old and refusing to have his picture taken with him, prompting Les himself to tweet, "No you didn't. I am at home and have been all day. Don't lie."

Rather amusingly, this prompted numerous light-hearted tweets falsely accusing Les Dennis of increasingly ridiculous misdeeds...

"Les Dennis  has just pushed my 95 year old grandfather off his zimmer frame in Tesco to get to the last 12 pack of Andrex! My 5 year old nephew tried to stop him but he shouted, 'Survey says!' then proceeded to drop kick the boy into the pet food section. #Disappointed"

"I remember meeting Les Dennis on the Titanic. He took a life boat just for himself, filled it with caviar, truffles and champagne, then rowed away shouting, 'Last one ashore is a ******.' #Disappointed"

"I was just sat next to Les Dennis on a Megabus to Ipswich. I said Les, remember that soap character you always used to do the impression of, what was her name? He replied, "Ooh, I don't really know!"
But I'm sure he did, I mean he made a career off that impression."

"Just met Les Dennis in Kwik Save in Batley. He'd been knocking on doors licking people's fingers trying to catch corona virus so he could cough it onto children. When I approached him about it he called me a *** ****** and ran over my feet with his roller blades. #Disappointed"

"I met Les Dennis in a GP surgery last Thursday. He pushed my head into the waiting room fish tank and then took an old lady's face mask off and coughed in her mouth, proudly announcing, 'I just came back from China, via Northern Italy!' I'm more than a little disappointed."

"I met Les once when he was chief engineer at the Chernobyl nuclear facility, told me it was fine to go down to the reactor room. #Disappointed"

Waterstones Brentford even got in on the fun, tweeting...

"Les Dennis came in the shop today. He tore the final page out of all the books. We tried to stop him but he fought us off with a large plush Gruffalo, screaming, 'Beware my terrible tusks and my terrible claws and my terrible teeth and in my terrible jaws.' #Disappointed"

My favourite reply of all though, came from Specsavers...

"One of you needs to give us a call."

Should have gone to Specsavers.

Technically, Specsavers tweet makes no sense, as Les Dennis was at home all day, so it's obviously @RickB560 who needs to give them a call, not Les! However, top marks for getting in on the fun.

You can find more tweets gone wrong in my original blog post:
When tweets go wrong (part 1)