The NBA has reportedly opened up an investigation into veteran referee Eric Lewis over a Twitter “burner” account seemingly set up solely to laud Lewis’ officiating.
The suspicious Twitter account sported the name “Blair Cuttliff” and lacked any hallmarks of a real Twitter account because its only posts were to others who had criticized Lewis’ work on the court, according to Fox News and others.
When the account, which was first started in 2015, was brought to the league’s attention, it had no followers and only followed the accounts of a few other referees and the George Mason women’s basketball account, where Lewis’ wife is the head coach.
At one point, a message from the account appeared, claiming that the account was started by the referee’s brother, Mark.
“Pablo, This is MARK Lewis. Right family (older brother). I’m sorry that I put E, in this situation, but this ain’t Watergate. You’re right, the account WILL be coming down. Twitter should not be this vindictive. Sorry to inconvenience you,” the message said.
The account was briefly deleted but was later returned to a live status.
However, Bellingcat writer Aric Toler pointed out that the account seemed to be registered using the same AOL email address the referee used in other applications.
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