DA Subpoenas Parody Twitter Account, Bike Lobby, Over White Flags On Brooklyn Bridge
Image: DNAinfo/Stephen Cooper
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:
Earlier today we hoisted two white flags to signal our complete surrender of the Brooklyn Bridge bicycle path to pedestrians.
— Bicycle Lobby (@BicycleLobby) July 22, 2014
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):
We implore "journalists" asking for comment to A) read our profile B) read more than one of our tweets and C) Google "Dorothy Rabinowitz."
— Bicycle Lobby (@BicycleLobby) July 22, 2014
If you believe we're for real, we have a bridge in Brooklyn we'd like to sell you.
— Bicycle Lobby (@BicycleLobby) July 22, 2014
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:
None of the claims made here have ever been true. We did not fake the Moon landing or go for a ride with Beyoncé, for example.
— Bicycle Lobby (@BicycleLobby) August 8, 2014
On Monday, Twitter alerted this account that it had received a subpoena from the office of the District Attorney of the County of New York.
— Bicycle Lobby (@BicycleLobby) August 8, 2014
These last tweets are 100% true. Everything else posted before today is clearly a joke.
— Bicycle Lobby (@BicycleLobby) August 8, 2014
On advice of counsel that is all that can be disclosed.
— Bicycle Lobby (@BicycleLobby) August 8, 2014
Scary. But, apparently, not quite scary enough:
Knock knock. (Who's there?) The DA's office. (The DA's office who?) Come out with your IP address & password where we can see them.
— Bicycle Lobby (@BicycleLobby) August 11, 2014
Follow Nikita Richardson on Twitter @nikitarbk
