DA Subpoenas Parody Twitter Account, Bike Lobby, Over White Flags On Brooklyn Bridge
It’s not every day that a parody Twitter account pulls the wool over the eyes of two major news sources, but that’s precisely what happened on July 22 when we all awoke to find two bleached American flags planted firmly on the Brooklyn Bridge and a few tweets from the “perpetrators.” That day, the parodists behind @bicyclelobby managed to con the Daily News and the AP in one fell swoop. We laughed, we moved on. The Manhattan district attorney’s office did not, apparently.
Here’s a brief review of the tweet that got the “Bike Lobby,” in trouble in the first place:
http://twitter.com/BicycleLobby/statuses/491590676816363520
Once the tweeter in question realized s/he was being taken seriously by respectable new outlets, they put these messages out into the webosphere (citing anti-bike journalist Dorothy Rabinowitz, who’s well-known for claiming there is a bike lobby controlling the NYPD):
http://twitter.com/BicycleLobby/statuses/491621678540410880
http://twitter.com/BicycleLobby/statuses/491631544365502464
Now, according to Gothamist, despite their best attempts to assure everyone that that first infamous tweet was just a joke, the Bike Lobby Twitter account has been subpoenaed by the Manhattan’s D.A’s office (check out all the legalese here). And @bicyclelobby confirmed as much in a series of sobering tweets:
http://twitter.com/BicycleLobby/statuses/497797320407539714
http://twitter.com/BicycleLobby/statuses/497798107099590658
http://twitter.com/BicycleLobby/statuses/497800679352979456
http://twitter.com/BicycleLobby/statuses/497801231029780481
Scary. But, apparently, not quite scary enough:
http://twitter.com/BicycleLobby/status/498830700658061312
Follow Nikita Richardson on Twitter @nikitarbk