It’s a given in the Internet age that everyone will eventually get duped by a fake account on social media. That extends to celebrities and athletes as well.
On Wednesday, Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green joined the infamous club. Green caught wind of a tweet from “@TheNBACentel“, which quoted NBA legend Kevin Garnett, and ran with it.
Draymond Green fell for the trap
The erroneous quote mentioned Green’s altercation with former teammate Jordan Poole, making it seem as if Garnett was calling Green out for his role in it and insinuating Garnett would welcome a fight with the Warrior. Clearly, the situation with Poole is still a sore subject for the four-time NBA champion.
Green quote tweeted the post and even mentioned Garnett’s official handle, reminding him of when the former NBA star disrespected Green when he was a rookie.
Garnett ended up responding to Green, highlighting that the original quote was from a completely fake account, whilst getting in a parting shot for Twitter Owner Elon Musk. Green ended up deleting his tweet after realizing his mistake.
The fall of blue checkmarks
Since Musk’s takeover of Twitter, verified badges have been almost completely annulled in terms of the reliability they used to possess. Accounts used to gain verified status when they had enough credibility and weight within their industry.
Now, all Twitter users who subscribe to Twitter Blue are given a blue checkmark. The account that duped Green is a spoof of the popular “The NBA Central” account, which has 1.2 million followers and consistently aggregates relevant news around the basketball landscape.
This is not the first time something along these lines has happened over the past few months, and it certainly won’t be the last.