Identity of @BPGlobalPR Revealed

The Awl has posted an exclusive interview with the man behind @BPGlobalPR, Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Simpson.

The account is actually a spoof of an insensitive BP publicist. (Example: “Attention lazy fishermen! If you won’t clean our mess, we’re taking your money. Fair is fair. http://ow.ly/27SJF,” posted on July 7.) Earlier this year, the identity of @BPGlobalPR remained a mystery, even as the tweets made news.  During the interview with The Awl, Simpson says he had a team of 15 who worked with him to maintain the account. One re-tweet by Roger Ebert, and the number of followers took off, reaching more than 180,000.

Asked where he got the idea to start the account, Simpson responded, “It was very obvious to me BP was more worried about its image than about actually letting people see and understand what was happening on the Gulf.”

Ultimately, he had to admit that the site was a parody. Still, the New York Times was interested and wrote a story about the account. For those interested, the actual BP Twitter account is BP_America.

[Image via The Awl]

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