Bob Costas confirms fake Twitter account is 'bogus,' complains it got his number of Emmys wrong
In a span of less than 24 hours, sports broadcasting legend Bob Costas was on Twitter. Except he wasn’t.
On Tuesday evening, tweets from an account under the name @real_bobcostas started making the rounds. The account looked like it could be real enough at first glance, but it didn’t take long for Costas’ son, Keith, and his agent to confirm that the account was fake.
By then, the account had racked up thousands of followers and was posting some stuff the man would never go near, like NFL power rankings.
Per his son (and pretty much if you have ever watched/heard Bob Costas): The Twitter account below is fake. But it shows you how easily you can get a big follower account with a fake. pic.twitter.com/gL0NDR7CuH
— Richard Deitsch (@richarddeitsch) December 9, 2020
Despite missing the blue checkmark denoting a verified account, the fake account still managed to fool a few sports figures, like YES Network’s Michael Kay and ESPN’s Dave Pasch.
The account has since been suspended by Twitter.
Bob Costas is never joining Twitter
Costas later appeared on the “Rich Eisen Show” to address the issue, and it didn’t take long for him to start airing his grievances against the account’s creator and Twitter itself. He also explained how he found about the account, via texts from friends.
When we saw Bob Costas trending on Twitter this morning, and then found out why, we had to call the man himself to get the full story and confirm that the mystery account was in fact NOT Bob: pic.twitter.com/VYQh836WAm
— Rich Eisen Show (@RichEisenShow) December 9, 2020
“Late last night, and then again this morning when I woke up, dozens of text, some claiming it must be real, some saying this can’t be true. One said ‘This is the best indication that hell has frozen over since the ‘04 Red Sox or the 2016 Cubs.’
“I am here to assure you the fires of hell are still very much blazing, because I am absolutely not on Twitter. They have taken the bogus account down.”
Costas then started listing things he would do before joining Twitter. Here’s the list:
binge watch the Real Housewives of Orange County
hire Rudy Giuliani as his personal attorney
make a return trip to Sochi just for the nostalgia of the pink-eye episode
star in a sequel to “BASEketball”
visit the NFL combine
While he took a swipe at “BASEketball,” the 1998 sports comedy in which he made a cameo, he did joke he’d do a sequel if joined by former co-star and fellow broadcasting legend Al Michaels.
Costas later pointed out there was one error that should have made the forgery obvious, as his son showed him a screengrab of the fake account claiming to have 21 Emmys. In reality, Costas has 28 Emmys, the only man to win an Emmy in sports, news and entertainment.
“Look I’m a reasonably self-effacing guy, but would I knowingly short-change myself? Seven Emmys? The guy couldn’t even get the number of Emmys right! If you’re going to pull a scam, put your ducks in a row.
Eisen then noted another tweet that was clearly fake, in which Costas supposedly revealed his rankings of the top-five NFL teams. Let’s just say Costas isn’t the biggest NFL fan these days.
“You know that I have no idea how to rank teams 1-5 in 2020 in the NFL. If my life depended on naming the coach of every NFL team and their starting quarterback, I’d begin making out my will and testament.”
Costas may never join Twitter in his life (and that is absolutely not a bad choice), but he at least managed to have plenty of fun with the platform.
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