Don’t be mad, Max but Twitter verified a fake George Miller account

‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ has been burning up the box office and getting plenty of Twitter chatter as a result.

That may be why @GMillerMax, an account purporting to be the movie’s legendary director George Miller, was swiftly verified:

The account’s single tweet, which promises further instalments of the franchise, was picked up as news by numerous outlets, including entertainment industry bible Variety. That blue tick carries a lot of weight.

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But @GMillerMax is actually the creation of The Studio Exec, a satirical movie new sites. Its creator Lenny Delowitz writes: 

Little did I know that the George Miller account would end up getting verified but you can’t blame Twitter for that. When you have 10,000 people screaming in your face claiming something is real, it’s incredibly difficult to say otherwise.

My intention was to create the account and then do what we do. Write about how George was in line to direct ‘Pitch Perfect 3’ or that he turned down the opportunity to make ‘Star Wars’ because he has an irrational fear of Harrison Ford…

…So what’s the moral of this sordid tale, other than the fact that some journalists will believe anything for a story?

Well, there is none. I was just a comedian looking for an opportunity to make a few people laugh on one hand and on the other, a social media professional experimenting with a tool of his trade.

We’ve dropped Twitter a line to find out how the ‘George Miller’ was verified without contacting Warner Brothers or the real Mr Miller, and will update this post when we hear more.

Oh, and one more thing, George Miller’s representative confirmed to DialMForMovies that the account wasn’t kosher, before it received its tick from Twitter.

George Miller rep statement to me regarding the recently @verified director's account. pic.twitter.com/nHxX6VaMfB

— Rhett Bartlett (@dialmformovies) May 20, 2015

See, it’s not that tricky, is it?

Update: Twitter has now suspended the account.

Feat image credit: Warner Bros. 

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