How Twitter Trolls Took Over Fashion Week

A designer projected an unfiltered stream of tweets about the show on a giant screen on the runway.

A red-orange dress from the Rebecca Minkoff Fall 2013 fashion show during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week.

Image by Frazer Harrison / Getty Images

Rebecca Minkoff’s 2013 Fall/Winter collection is full of gorgeous clothes with vivid colors and bold prints. The runway show yesterday at New York Fashion Week had a giant screen that showed a livestream of tweets using hashtag #RMFall. The idea was for fashion lovers watching a livestream of the show online to interact with the live show.

But when you run an unfiltered livestream of the internet on a 30-foot screen, you never know what you’re going to get.

While the crowd was taking its seats, I tweeted about the screen and the hashtag. This tipped off a group of Twitter pranksters who are loosely known as “Weird Twitter.” They’re the guys behind other Twitter pranks like sending Pitbull to Alaska, making the singer from Smash Mouth eat 24 eggs, taking over a Republican printer, fake killing Scott Baio, and causing a false panic over stolen bicycles by trolling the official hashtag of a Tornoto TED conference.

Once Weird Twitter knew they could get any tweet up on a giant screen that would be shown to fancy fashion-show attendees, including celebrities Nicky Hilton, Ashlee Simpson, Coco Rocha, and Shenae Grimes, they went for it, filling the screen with joke tweets.

The tweets below all showed up on the giant jumbotron. Luckily, the screen was only playing tweets while people took their seats, and it turned off once the actual show started.

Most people seemed oblivious, which may be the most damning assessment of the attempt to integrate social media into live events: If no one notices when mayhem is happening on the screen, they’re probably not paying attention when it’s all going as planned, either.

3. This happened:

A scatalogical photo of a unwell pig, a Weird Twitter meme, flashed onto the screen.

Cool Niceman @dogboner Follow

#RMFall I AM TRAPPED IN AN IMPOSSIBLY HUGE PAIR OF JEANS BACKSTAGE AT RMFALL EVENT PLEASE ASSIS T ME IN GETTING OUT OF THE JEANS

8:36 PM - 8 Feb 13

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keptsimple @kept_simple

Ron Paul. #RMFALL

8:39 PM - 8 Feb 13

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China Cabbage Facts @CHOY_FACTS Follow

#RMFall SCREAM IF YOU LOVE ANIME

8:38 PM - 8 Feb 13

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Matt @Cheesegod69

I love to eat turds #RMFall

8:15 PM - 8 Feb 13

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JULIE DELPY $WAG @nalingus

some exciting new diapers on display in the #RMFALL showcase

8:21 PM - 8 Feb 13

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drunk mario @troublebrewin

#rmfall What goes with crocs LOL

8:30 PM - 8 Feb 13

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Mobutu Sese Seko @Mobute Follow

I named my basenji Hitler. "Here, Hitler! Hitler, no! Stop that. Always on the rug with you, Hitler! I'm gonna put you down, Hitler" #RMFall

8:16 PM - 8 Feb 13

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Mobutu Sese Seko @Mobute Follow

"It's always so embarrassing when I'm trying to have a dinner party and little Hitler just sits there just licking his anus." #RMFall

8:17 PM - 8 Feb 13

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Mobutu Sese Seko @Mobute Follow

I got kicked out of SCAD because my senior project was 142 oil paintings of Danzig having sex with a pterodactyl without its consent #RMFall

8:24 PM - 8 Feb 13

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sensitive tim @timmeehan666

HITLER TOOK AWAY THE GUNS DON'T LET OBAMA TAKE AWAY OUR GUNS I LOVE FASHION AND MAKE UP I PUT IT ON MY PEEPEE #RMFall

8:15 PM - 8 Feb 13

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Cool Niceman @dogboner Follow

9/11 Was Actually Fucking Cool As Hell And I Hope it Happens Again #RMFall

8:22 PM - 8 Feb 13

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Löwenäffchen @Lowenaffchen Follow

Thank you @RebeccaMinkoff for the fantastic offerings this year. The police are towing cars outside #nyfw2013 #RMFALL #MBFW2013

8:32 PM - 8 Feb 13

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keptsimple @kept_simple

At some point we all must face death alone. #RMFALL

8:26 PM - 8 Feb 13

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Snoop Rion @cexmang Follow

#RMFall if you're sliding into first and you feel something burst: diarrhea

8:25 PM - 8 Feb 13

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Snoop Rion @cexmang Follow

#RMFall when you're riding in a Chevy and you feel something heavy: diarrhea

8:26 PM - 8 Feb 13

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Snoop Rion @cexmang Follow

#RMFall when you're living in a shed and you something something red: diarrhea

8:28 PM - 8 Feb 13

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Lemonslabs @_Slabs_

Check under your seats. Everyone gets a free dildo! #RMFall

8:28 PM - 8 Feb 13

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Jay Satellite @satellitehigh Follow

#RMFall hey models look at my picture over here and tell me if i’m cute

8:18 PM - 8 Feb 13

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Jay Satellite @satellitehigh Follow

Checking out all the hot new footwear styles at fashion week! #RMFall pic.twitter.com/WfW16Y0O

8:21 PM - 8 Feb 13

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Jay Satellite @satellitehigh Follow

#RMFall Fashion? Fo’sho! We’re going all out with the hottest new pog and slammer styles for 2013. Get fashion-crazy with FashionPogs!

8:17 PM - 8 Feb 13

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Jay Satellite @satellitehigh Follow

these pants-covered-with-stuffed-animals are EVERYWHERE, and i love it! #RMFall

8:25 PM - 8 Feb 13

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China Cabbage Facts @CHOY_FACTS

#RMFALL DUKE NUKEM FOREVER DUKE NUKEM FOREVER DUKE NUKEM FOREVER DUKE NUKEM FOREVER DUKE NUKEM FOREVER DUKE NUKEM FOREVER DUKE NUKEM FOREVER

8:20 PM - 8 Feb 13

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China Cabbage Facts @CHOY_FACTS Follow

#rmfall poop butt

9:01 PM - 8 Feb 13

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Matt @Cheesegod69 Follow

Bruce Dackler #RMFall

8:18 PM - 8 Feb 13

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yr lil loveshark @sharked_up

hey everyone at #RMFall what is your horny level?

8:39 PM - 8 Feb 13

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(Asking for someone’s “horny level” is a Weird Twitter meme)

Dog Watch @LookinAtDogs

Why no dogs at the #RMFall fashion show? Pretty messed up.

8:37 PM - 8 Feb 13

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Austin H. @AustinH_24seven

Weedlord Bonerhitler, please pick up the white courtesy phone #RMFall

8:42 PM - 8 Feb 13

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t(0_0)t @meatbag

take a shit in my pussy #RMFall

8:38 PM - 8 Feb 13

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t(0_0)t @meatbag

#RMFall GOD AND GUNS MADE AMERICA GREAT KEEP YOU'RE POWDER DRY WAKE UP AMERICA NOT MY POTUS #TCOT #TEAPARTY #NOTRACIST #GOP #GOBACKTOKENYA

8:27 PM - 8 Feb 13

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The Weasel @MovingWeasels

#RMFALL DRONES

8:37 PM - 8 Feb 13

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Preston Olson @preston__olson

my finger stinks #RMFall

8:32 PM - 8 Feb 13

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Daniel Singer @chilblane

H͈̻̝̠̜̼̫ͭͪ͞E͚͕͇̒ͧ͂ͣ̓̒̋̃L̨͔̩͍̹̯͓͎̍̑͐ͬ͊ͨͅP̴̝͚̯̻͕̬̣͂͂ͯ ̔̒҉̴̘̱̺̦̼̮M̫͛ͩ̌ͫ͒̏̀͘͘͠E̥̲̱̜̙̳̳̦̬ͭ̀͝͡ #RMFall

8:30 PM - 8 Feb 13

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Smug Prepper @SmugPrepper

*Oprah voice* "You get a Dildo! and YOU get a Dildo! I LOVE DILDOS!" #RMFALL

8:29 PM - 8 Feb 13

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Passive Voice @ZKlineWHRB

Rebecca do you make clothes for a fat man with two penis's (penis are normal shape, aranged in standered 2 penis's pattern) #RMFall

8:29 PM - 8 Feb 13

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Ross Courtright @wochie

REBECCA MINKOFF: NOTORIOUS BIKE THIEF #RMFall

8:28 PM - 8 Feb 13

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Stewie Cartman @StewieCartman

Sandy Hook was a hoax. #RMFall

8:28 PM - 8 Feb 13

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Brian Miner @brianrminer

Manti Te'o's girlfriend is actually Kony #Kony2013 #RMFall

8:21 PM - 8 Feb 13

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1080 @initfo

Sure, I'll eat ass. I love eating ass #RMFall

8:28 PM - 8 Feb 13

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Nik Brodeur @diphdatheorange

Hitler did nothing wrong #RMFall

8:27 PM - 8 Feb 13

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David Clarke @DavidClarked

Fart. #RMFall

8:27 PM - 8 Feb 13

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$$$ @chilldogge

Attention All Attendees: They Are Confiscating Bikes Out Front!! Please Go Check To Make Sure Yours Is Still There!! #RMFall

8:27 PM - 8 Feb 13

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cursed lamborghini @CRIMEGOLEM

#RMFALL RIMJOBS

8:27 PM - 8 Feb 13

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Nik Brodeur @diphdatheorange

Can someone who knows about penis sores DM? I can provide pics. #RMFall

8:26 PM - 8 Feb 13

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Daniel Wright @Danactivated

#RMFall ass and boobs and balls and sexual toys etc

8:26 PM - 8 Feb 13

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rap game goregeous @rapgamegorgeous

live in a pit, die in a pit #RMFall

8:25 PM - 8 Feb 13

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mike @FARTDAUGHTER

i pushed a poop out so hard that it made my back crack #RMFall

8:24 PM - 8 Feb 13

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t(0_0)t @meatbag

#RMFall Piss Holocaust

8:23 PM - 8 Feb 13

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quart @Quarty

#RMFall new Staind album dropping this spring

8:20 PM - 8 Feb 13

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Eventually, the added tweets caused #RMFall to become a U.S. trending topic, which led to a whole slew of spam tweets from accounts that target any trending topic. The pornography on the screen is from one of those spam accounts:

Image by Frazer Harrison / Getty Images