Apr 9, 2019; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Lakers president of basketball operations Magic Johnson speaks to the media before the game against the Portland Trail Blazers at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports

Magic Johnson has a rather unique Twitter personality compared to other people. To describe how Magic tweets, imagine your dad posting the most benign things you could think of. Magic’s tweets are never controversial, rarely negative, and are usually devoid of personality.

That’s not a bad thing. Like how Steven Wright’s incredibly dry comedic approach makes him a great stand-up comic, Magic is a popular Twitter follow for his dry tweeting. He tweets as though a robot is trying to tweet like a human being. Well anyway, one of his famous friends shined some light on Magic’s Twitter strategy and it’s not actually him tweeting.

Friend and actor Rob Lowe was on the Pardon My Take podcast and revealed that Magic has someone tweet for him.

“I have new and breaking news. Last night, I found out that Magic Johnson does not physically do any of the tweets, which may explain some of it. So it’s articulated clearly across the room or while he’s doing 17 other things — a titan of the industry — and then there is a woman whose job is to figure out what he’s talking about and make it into a tweet. That’s the latest wrinkle which I think might warrant some further explanation.”

This probably isn’t a surprise, lots of famous people have someone else tweet for them. Whether it’s because they don’t understand social media or that they don’t want to deal with the hate or they’re simply just too busy and can afford to pay someone else, sometimes the person tweeting from a famous person’s account isn’t actually that person. What makes Magic’s case interesting is that it’s not like he tells this woman exactly what to tweet. It’s almost like she’s ghostwriting for Magic 280 characters at a time.

“I think he doesn’t say ‘send tweet’ so she never knows when it’s ending so you get what you get. I can promise here’s what it’s not. ‘Hey, hello, I have an idea for a tweet. Are you ready? Lakers look very stiff tonight, period. Perhaps they need a change in the lineup, period. Send that.’ I don’t think that’s happening.”

This seems to track with something that was said on SportsNation this past July. In the clip, Christine Williamson revealed that one of her best friends is the tweeter and that the reason why Magic’s posts are rather bland is that she doesn’t want to make him sound controversial since she’s talking for him.

Not making Magic look bad is a smart strategy if you’re looking to keep a job as Magic’s tweeter.

[Silver Screen & Roll]

About Phillip Bupp

Producer/editor of the Awful Announcing Podcast and Short and to the Point. News editor for The Comeback and Awful Announcing. Highlight consultant for Major League Soccer as well as a freelance writer for hire. Opinions are my own but feel free to agree with them.

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