‘A total LOLfest’. “New internship opportunity! Looking for a young media student who’s absolutely addicted to current affairs, politics, OxyContin, music.”
So reads a tweet from a parody account spoofing Triple J’s Hack. The @jjjHack account, not to be confused with the legitimate @TripleJHack account, has amassed 30,000 followers since Monday with a steady stream of tweets mimicking Triple J’s chatty, uber-enthusiastic tone.
“Are Aussie house parties too unsafe? We talk to John who’s been yelling from somewhere underneath the floorboards since last Wednesday,” reads its most popular tweet. “We caught Harold Holt’s granddaughter after her epic DJ set and asked how hard it is for prime ministerial descendants to break into EDM,” says another. (EDM stands for electronic dance music.)
But is the popularity of the account, which already has more than half the followers of the actual Hack account, ruffing some feathers at Ultimo? Crikey hears that Hack’s staff have been warned, via text message, not to engage with or share the spoof account. Hack host Tom Tilley confirmed that staff had been told to be careful, but in recent days attitudes had softened towards what was now being seen as a loving homage to the show. “Initially our manager did tell us to be careful about engaging with the account or sharing links because we had no idea or no control over what direction it could take,” Tilley said. “But it’s been a total LOLfest”
“It is hilarious and we’re quite flattered,” Tilley added. “Clearly they’re massive fans of the show.
“We’ve just closed applications for someone to join our social media team, so hopefully whoever is behind it has applied.”
Crikey also contacted the email address on the account, partly to test our conspiracy theory that it was an inside job (the tone is pitch-perfect). Alas, we didn’t hear back by deadline
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