Good Reads: Celebrity Twitter Impostors

Did Danny DeVito really need to do this sans shirt? (Photo courtesy TwitPic)

So it turns out some of the best celebrity Tweeters are impostors. As someone who spends a criminal amount of time poring over celeb Twitter feeds, I can tell you the lifestyles of the inane and famous all start blending together into one massive miasma of self-absorption. Which is why, when one comes across something that doesn't quite fit the mold, it stands out.

For instance, I had high hopes when I stumbled across a feed purporting to be the brain droppings of Chanel's Karl Lagerfeld. But the white-haired, black-suited designer didn't exactly strike me as a Twitter kind of guy. Finding him on Twitter would be akin to discovering him eating in a mall food court. And, as suspected, the account turned out to be bogus.

A sampling:

Believe it or not, I love rap. 10:46 AM Jan 19th from web

Florals are for middle-aged women with weight problems. 12:15 AM Jan 27th from web

Nothing scares me more than people with some doll collection. As a child, I never played with anything like toys. I wanted to be a grown-up. 7:14 AM Feb 10th from web

My dream? Transparent fur. The hair on plastic and not on leather. We’ve tried, but nobody has found it yet. 10:34 PM Feb 18th from web

I only wear the latest thing. It's my job. 6:49 PM Mar 28th from web

I think I'm going to have a dinner party where no one speaks. I'll give all my guests pens and pads instead of the usual dinner conversation 9:47 AM Apr 24th from web

There is somewhat of a silver lining -- according to Lagerfeld's PR rep, the words are actually the designer's -- culled from other sources and compiled (for our reading pleasure) on Twitter by some generous soul.

Lagerfeld, though, isn't the only celeb who has been victimized by an opportunistic impersonator. In June, the proliferation of fake accounts forced Twitter into offering a "verified" account badge (like this) to help us separate the stars from their (sometimes way more interesting) doppelgangers. Other past notable victims of impostors include the Dalai Lama, Lisa Marie Presley, Shaquille O'Neal and Christopher Walken, whose fake account was a source of daily joy ("I claim to be frightened of horses but do so only to get out of attending parades. It's peculiar but has served me well. The horses get it.") until taken down by the service.

How to determine the veracity of a celeb's account? Look for the verified badge. Failing that, said Twitter co-founder Biz Stone to Mark Glaser of MediaShift, "...it's a good idea to check the celebrity's official Web site to see if it links to the Twitter account."

Or, look for pictorial proof -- celebs like Danny DeVito and Nick Hogan have posted pics of themselves holding signs scrawled with their true Twitter handles.

For more fun with celebrity Twitter feeds, watch Twits -- our new video series in which celeb Tweets -- including Lindsay Lohan, Diddy and Courtney Love -- get the dramatic treatment.