There’s been a lot of discussion of anonymous Twitter accounts over the years. Sometimes, that come with anonymous figures turning out to have accurate information on trades ahead of the main insiders. At other times, that’s been about accounts actually linked to figures working in professional sports. And the latest case of the latter comes from Zain Fahimullah, a social media design associate for the Los Angeles Clippers.
As Melissa Rohlin wrote in a FoxSports.com piece Wednesday, Fahimullah is behind the @RefrigeratorLAL account that started a rumor this summer about Los Angeles Lakers’ guard Austin Reaves dating pop music superstar Taylor Swift. That account has since been locked, but here’s a screenshot of that tweet from the FoxSports.com piece:
And here are some of the comments Rohlin got from Fahimullah on that:
“Austin is the trending boy, like the Lakers’ darling of the summer,” he said, explaining his choice of Reaves. “He just signed this [four-year, $54 million] deal. He’s going to Team USA. Also, the contrast between Austin Reaves and Taylor Swift makes it even funnier. Austin being this small-town kid, like a farmer. And Taylor Swift being this mega-superstar. So, I think that’s why I chose him.”
…”I’m like, ‘What?!'” he said. “I make a lot of memes and this was like the least effort I’ve ever put into one. And this is the one that just like blew up.”
…”I felt kind of bad once it started blowing up and people started talking to Austin about it,” Fahimullah said. “I was like, ‘Damn.’ I felt like he shouldn’t have to be answering these questions. I really felt bad.”
She also got some funny comments from Reaves himself:
“I just started laughing,” Reaves told FOX Sports. “I was playing cards with my brother, my best friend and my girlfriend, actually. I said something [about it] and she looked at me and was like, ‘Yeah, I’ve seen that.’
“I was like, ‘Yeah, one night when you were asleep I just snuck away and went to a bar.’ She obviously laughed about it and said, ‘If it were at a golf course, I would’ve been a little more worried.'”
…”Any time you’re in L.A. and you play for the Lakers, you’re going to get a lot of attention,” he told FOX Sports. “And obviously [Swift] is a superstar herself. So, I think the two names just blew up.”
Some NBA burner account sagas have had more severe implications. This one is mostly just amusing. But it’s definitely funny that a Clippers’ employee was behind a Reaves-Swift rumor that took off. And there is certainly some notability if Swift does wind up dating a sports figure, as we’ve seen with her and Kelce. So it’s amusing that this rumor, without any basis in fact, sprung up from a Clippers’ employee and drew 4.4 million views itself (and another 7.3 million from a HoopsMixOnly account that copied its text), and led to those reactions from Reaves and others.
There may maybe an interesting discussion here about Fahimullah and team employees’ ability to express themselves privately. A made-up dating rumor on an anonymous account run by anyone not connected to the NBA probably wouldn’t be that notable; we’ve seen real-world consequences for many over social media posts, even those made anonymously, but consequences have generally come for something more significant than a fake dating rumor.
But there’s certainly more impactful potential from something from a team employee. And that’s been the case with the “burner account” discussion that has actually had consequences. And it will be interesting to see if this winds up leading to any issues for Fahimullah.
