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Singer Al "Weird Al" Yankovic has made an entire career out of parodies and jokes, and his latest effort had his fans convinced that billionaire Elon Musk—who recently acquired Twitter—banned Harry Potter actor Daniel Radcliffe from the social media platform.
Yankovic managed to convince his roughly five million followers that Musk had suspended Radcliffe—who currently stars as Yankovic in the musical biopic Weird: The Al Yankovic Story—from Twitter, implying that Radcliffe was one of several high-profile celebrities to have their accounts suspended for impersonating Musk.
Yankovic tweeted:
"Oh no, they suspended [Daniel Radcliffe]'s Twitter account!"
"Wasn't it obvious he was doing a PARODY???"
\u201cOh no, they suspended @danielradcliffe's Twitter account! Wasn't it obvious he was doing a PARODY???\u201d— Al Yankovic (@Al Yankovic) 1667845208
If you read that in Al's voice, you aren't alone.
Many fans immediately believed the "news" and reacted negatively.
\u201c@alyankovic @DanielRadcliffe This new twitter sucks.\u201d— Al Yankovic (@Al Yankovic) 1667845208
\u201c@alyankovic @DanielRadcliffe Parody is banned on Twitter now.\u201d— Al Yankovic (@Al Yankovic) 1667845208
\u201c@alyankovic @DanielRadcliffe This is the plot of the Order of the Phoenix all over again.\u201d— Al Yankovic (@Al Yankovic) 1667845208
\u201c@alyankovic @DanielRadcliffe What?!???\u201d— Al Yankovic (@Al Yankovic) 1667845208
\u201c@alyankovic @DanielRadcliffe I need to be updated on what speech is free here.\u201d— Al Yankovic (@Al Yankovic) 1667845208
But here's the plot twist: Daniel Radcliffe doesn't actually have a Twitter account.
In fact, he never has and has previously spoken about how he is not interested in having social media accounts, citing a desire for privacy.
That means that the account that Yankovic—best known for creating comedy songs that make light of pop culture and often parody specific songs by contemporary musicians—mentioned in his initial tweet is actually a parody account.
Once fans realized what Yankovic was up to, they ate it up.
\u201cFrom the king of parodies himself.\u201d— Saify Akhtar \ud83c\uddf2\ud83c\uddfe\ud83c\uddf8\ud83c\uddec\ud83c\uddf5\ud83c\uddf0 (@Saify Akhtar \ud83c\uddf2\ud83c\uddfe\ud83c\uddf8\ud83c\uddec\ud83c\uddf5\ud83c\uddf0) 1667869646
\u201cAnd just what would YOU know about paro\u2026\nWait\u2026 \nOh, right.\nCarry on.\n\nP. S. "Christmas At Ground Zero" remains my all-time favourite Christmas song. \u2764\ufe0f\ud83c\udf85\u201d— Dan (I didn't want to go out anyway) Goodchild (@Dan (I didn't want to go out anyway) Goodchild) 1667936579
\u201cEternally the day that Weird Al punk'd Twitter\u201d— Doyenne Karie Kolibri \u2b1b (@Doyenne Karie Kolibri \u2b1b) 1667925951
\u201cwords cannot describe just how much i love Al\u201d— Neel (@Neel) 1667873604
\u201cThe king has spoken\u201d— Detective Babylegs (@Detective Babylegs) 1667934946
Several celebrities angered Musk after they jumped on a trend of impersonating him on Twitter.
Comedian Kathy Griffin lashed out at Musk after he suspended her account, saying she'd violated new guidelines that prohibit Twitter handles from engaging in impersonation without identifying themselves as parody accounts.
Griffin returned to the platform using her late mother Maggie's account and tweeted the hashtag "#FreeKathy." Maggie Griffin died in 2020. Her account has not been active since 2019, when the comedian used it to ask for help after her Facebook and Instagram profiles were hacked.
Her return kicked off a back-and-forth between her and Musk, who said she could have her account back if she pays $8, which is the monthly cost of Musk's newly announced blue checkmark verification subscription.
Comedian Sarah Silverman also used her verified account to troll Musk, copying his profile picture, cover image, and name. In fact, the only thing that distinguished her account from Musk's was her @SarahKSilverman Twitter handle.
Twitter labeled Silverman's account as "temporarily restricted" over the weekend because of "unusual activity."
The trend was kicked off by actress Valerie Bertinelli—best known for the shows One Day at a Time and Hot in Cleveland—who impersonated Musk and used the Twitter account to tweet support for Democrats ahead of Tuesday's midterm elections.
Bertilleni has not had her account suspended.