Report: Vince Lombardi Twitter Account Fake

BRISTOL, CT--According to the Green Bay Press Gazette, a Twitter account attributed to former Packers head coach Vince Lombardi is a fake. The account, which had attracted 10,287 followers since last Monday, posted several inflammatory statements, including one that referred to Ted Thompson as a “gaytard” and one calling Mike McCarthy “a total douche who can’t coach 4 shit.”

Journalist and social networking expert Scott Agee exposed the account as a fraud by pointing out that Lombardi has been dead for nearly 40 years.

“This is a classic case of fraud. Open and shut,” Agee said. “First of all, he would never say those things about Ted Thompson and Mike McCarthy. Secondly, he would never use internet vernacular like ‘LOL’ and ‘OMG.’ Third, and perhaps most importantly, he’s dead. A dead person can’t tweet. It’s one of the limitations that Twitter's been working on.”

The fake Lombardi Twitter account drew attention last week when it posted the first tweet about the state of the Packers: “OMG the Packers totally effed up getting rid of Favre Im glad im dead and don have to coach thes losers lol!”

That tweet was picked up by ESPN's Adam Schefter, who posted it on his Twitter account, resulting in a flurry of outrage and condemnation directed at the dead coach.

“Whatever Vince Lombardi thinks about the Packers he should keep to himself,” said ESPN’s Tom Jackson. “He’s dead now and he has no business offering commentary on the current administration. As an aside, can you believe we’re talking about a dead person tweeting? The greatest science fiction writer in the world couldn’t have imagined this.”

The controversy gained steam when another tweet appeared from “Vince Lombardi” reading, “Ted Thompson is a gaytard he messd up this team he is goin to be unemployed soon loser get a new job asshole ROFL!!!!”

“Lombardi appears to be very agitated with the direction the Packers are taking,” Schefter said on Sportscenter. “He clearly feels that Ted Thompson made a mistake in letting Favre go and it doesn’t seem like he likes Mike McCarthy either. It’ll be intriguing to see what the Packers’ response to all this is. Lombardi is an icon in the organization and this is a P.R. nightmare for them.”

“Of course, we don’t know for sure it’s him,” he added, “but this certainly seems like the kind of thing he’d be saying about the Packers if he were still alive.”

The Packers were able to breathe a sigh of relief upon learning the account was fake, while Schefter was forced to admit he’d been fooled by the fraudulent tweeter.

“I think a lot of people were taken in by this imposter,” Schefter said . “It’s very easy for anybody to set up a Twitter account and pretend to be someone else. The fact that the real guy is dead sort of got obscured in all the controversy. But you know what? I’m still kind of proud of myself for breaking the story. And now I’m breaking the story that it was fake, so I’m 2-for-2 this week.”