Truth & Rumors > NBA
Shaq uncovers Internet impostor
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05:32 AM ET 11.20 | Shaquille O'Neal had a problem. An Internet impostor using his name was sending messages to unsuspecting Shaq fans. So O'Neal did what any sensible, 7-foot-1, muscle-bound mammoth would do. He started tweeting. The faux Shaq account was discovered last week by Sports Media Challenge, a consulting firm that works with O'Neal. Kathleen Hessert, the firm's owner, was initially thrilled. She had been pushing O'Neal to Twitter with fans. She found the oddball references to the Pythagorean theorem and the Big Cactus to be very Shaq-like. "It was a very good impersonation," Hessert said. A closer inspection revealed the forgery. The ersatz O'Neal, for example, claimed to be sending tweets from the bench during a game -- a virtual impossibility. That was the point, said the man who created the account. Ward Andrews, the 33-year-old Suns fan behind ShaquilleONeal, said he included the occasional outlandish claim as a tip-off. "All the longtime followers, over 500 followers, they know it's a joke," said Andrews, who owns a Phoenix design and marketing agency. "I really didn't have any intent to pull people's leg. It was just to entertain."
Shaquille O'Neal, AP
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Comments (23) Add A Comment
Wow really. Thats truly amazing. His wife is a babe.
Bond 007
San Francisco, Ca, FU
Total Comments (1019)
**** is "tweeting"
700 Level Lifer
Philadelphia , PA
Total Comments (937)
This story is freakin confusing. Who is the impostor in this story? It seems like it's all of them including Shaq.
Freakin useless story.
Guam Baller
Total Comments (3438)
Good comment Jova!
Drunk Eli
Huntington Beach, CA
Total Comments (4125)
Sorry...HOVA
Drunk Eli
Huntington Beach, CA
Total Comments (4125)
glad his deputy training paid off
jgb
Total Comments (10535)
Guess the Shaqtus ruthless comments have caught up with him huh.
dee dBL(deeofdees)
Total Comments (3054)
Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service, that allows its users to send and read other users' updates (otherwise known as tweets), which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length.
In other words, it's texting to a bunch of people at the same time and talking back and forth to them.
Obviously, the guy said nothing damaging while pretending to be Shaq.
Petey024
New York , NY
Total Comments (2146)
Kobe, tell me how my twitter tastes...
BigFletchDog
Total Comments (2911)
some one impersanating shaq, that could be fun.
Kobe tell me how the glass taste, cause i cant rebound no more.
Joe Dew
Idaho Falls , ID
Total Comments (8400)
Whats Tweeting?
Joe Dew
Idaho Falls , ID
Total Comments (8400)
is it a sick reference to Tweety Bird
Joe Dew
Idaho Falls , ID
Total Comments (8400)
wheres Sylvester Cat when you need him, and granny to save the yellow bird.
Joe Dew
Idaho Falls , ID
Total Comments (8400)
I don't like twitter. I don't want to hear that your eating spaghetti or enjoying your oatmeal this morning. Or that you want to spout off for no reason. I get enough crappy spam thrown my direction as it is.
billburaz
Phoenix , AZ
Total Comments (30)
Great job!! Next, I hope someone can expose the Shaq impostor playing for the Suns.
PileOfCrepes
Total Comments (328)
Great one PileOfCrap. LOL
Petey024
New York , NY
Total Comments (2146)
deputy training? he hired a consulting firm to bust this guy. i wonder if that's how he caught those internet predators, too.
nbacheapseats.blogsp…
Arlington , VA
Total Comments (206)
lol
C-Smith
Total Comments (2178)
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