Yesterday, newly sworn-in Governor Andrew Cuomo's twitter account was mysteriously deleted "due to strange activity." Shortly afterwards, a new account was linked on Cuomo's website, called "NYGovernor." And his initial bio for the twitter was: "First elected Governor of the State of New York since the Luv Guv. @shellysilver calls me Mario's Kid. I live with @sandrashm and like classic cars." Does Andrew Cuomo have a better sense of humor than any of us realized?
No, probably not. NYC The Blog investigated the strange twitterings, and discovered that the new twitter account was an incredibly well-maintained hoax that somehow slipped past Cuomo's handlers eyes. After the initial "Luv Guv" bio raised some eyebrows, the Faux Cuomo updated the bio, upgrading the style of cars he loves and dropping a Jay-Z reference: "I govern the Empire State that's NEW YORK! (h/t JayZ). (Fake) @shellysilver calls me Mario's Kid. I live with @sandrashm and like muscle cars."
After a long series of back and forth tweets with Faux Cuomo, NYC The Blog and upstate reporter Nick Reisman sorted through all the confusion, and Cuomo's team updated his site with the real new twitter account (NYGovCuomo). And the Faux Cuomo even (kind of) admitted to the hoax, tweeting that the P in Andrew P. Cuomo stood for "Phony."
You can see more screengrabs of Twittergate 2011 here. While it may be a little embarrassing that Cuomo's team allowed the link to appear on his official website, he can take comfort knowing that he's gotten through the first sort-of scandal of his administration.
