Twitter Gave a Fake Disney Junior Account That Uses Racial Slurs a Gold Checkmark Verification
Twitter’s verification woes continue. It appears the company inadvertently awarded a gold verification badge to a parody Disney account that has published racial slurs.
As of this morning, Twitter account @DisneyJuniorUK boasted a gold verification badge on the social media site, accompanied by a message reading “This account is verified because it’s an official business on Twitter.” (The account was suspended in the last hour after Variety contacted Disney. A source says Disney were aware of the account since the early hours of the morning in the U.K. and had already reached out to Twitter to resolve the issue.)
More from Variety
Twitter Restores Blue Check-Marks for Many Celebs, Including Several Dead Ones
Disney to Reach 4,000 Layoffs This Week With Second Round of Cuts, Third Wave to Hit Ahead of Summer
Elon Musk Drops Twitter's 'State-Affiliated' and 'Government-Funded' Media Labels After Backlash
In its pinned tweet, the account — which, due to its content and follower numbers, does not appear to be an official Disney account — posted: “#FuckThatN****Elon, #KasherQuon and #MeowskullFeetFreaks.” (The original pinned tweet did not censor the racial slur.)
The Twitter account, which was believed to be a long-running parody account, also posted tweets claiming that adult animated series “South Park” and “Family Guy” would soon be available on Disney Junior U.K.
The Disney Junior U.K. network ceased operating in Oct. 2020, with its corresponding Twitter account shut down at the same time.
Gold verification badges cost $1,000 per month, although the social media company has currently waived the fee for its largest advertising clients and most-followed brands.
The owner of the @DisneyJuniorUK account appeared to be as surprised at their new verification status as the account’s 2,628 followers, tweeting: “No fucking way. This isn’t actually real right. Someone fucking pinch me or something” alongside a screenshot of the account’s profile page with the gold checkmark circled.
Both the account’s profile picture and banner used the same official Disney Junior logo as the real Disney account @DisneyJunior, which also has a gold checkmark. The real Disney Junior account boasts almost 50,000 followers, a description in the bio that reads “Where the magic begins!” and, next to its gold checkmark, a small button that links back to the main @Disney account.
Meanwhile, the interloper’s bio section merely linked to another account called @7virtues_, which claimed to be managing the @DisneyJuniorUK account.
In a poll retweeted by the Disney Junior U.K. account, @7virtues_ wrote: "should i deactivate the disney junior uk account for a while so i dont get murked by the disney hitmen" with the options being ""Yeah.Ye;yah… ye.s,..,,y" and "NOT AT ALL N****" At the time of writing, almost 2,000 people had voted in the poll, with over 88% encouraging @7virtues_ to keep the Disney Junior U.K. account.
One of Elon Musk's first changes after taking over Twitter in a $44 billion deal last year was to abolish the previous verification system, which saw celebrities, companies and other public figures awarded blue verification badges via an enigmatic system many believed was unfair.
However, Musk's replacement for the system — which saw users able to pay for blue verification badges — quickly descended into chaos last winter shortly after it was introduced. In one notable case, a user changed their name to pharmaceutical manufacturer Eli Lilly, paid $8 for a verification badge and tweeted that insulin, which can cost patients hundreds of dollars for just a few weeks' supply, would be free. The prank was hailed for drawing attention to the price-gouging cost of a life-saving drug but reportedly wiped billions off Eli Lilly's stock price.
A month later, Musk announced Twitter was introducing gold badges for businesses and grey ones for government accounts.
Last week he went ahead and removed all legacy blue check marks, although on Sunday he appeared to have reinstated them for users with over a million followers including Chris Hemsworth, J.K. Rowling and Neil deGrasse Tyson.
Variety has reached out to Twitter and Disney for comment.
Best of Variety
This 'Fast and Furious' Arcade Cabinet Allows You to Step Behind the Wheel as Dom Toretto
Emmy Predictions: TV Movie - 'Fire Island' and 'Reality' Bring Fresh Takes to the Category
Sign up for Variety’s Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
