Posted on Feb 9, 2013

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. What could go wrong?

by Katie Notopoulos

BuzzFeed News Reporter

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.

This happened:

#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-- Cool Niceman

#RMFall SCREAM IF YOU LOVE ANIME-- China Cabbage Facts

some exciting new diapers on display in the #RMFALL showcase-- JULIE DELPY $WAG

#rmfall What goes with crocs LOL-- drunk mario

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-- Mobutu Sese Seko

"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-- Mobutu Sese Seko

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-- Mobutu Sese Seko

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-- sensitive tim

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

Thank you @RebeccaMinkoff for the fantastic offerings this year. The police are towing cars outside #nyfw2013 #RMFALL #MBFW2013-- LÃ¶wenÃ¤ffchen

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

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

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

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

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

#RMFall hey models look at my picture over here and tell me if iâ€™m cute-- Jay Satellite

Checking out all the hot new footwear styles at fashion week! #RMFall http://t.co/WfW16Y0O-- Jay Satellite

#RMFall Fashion? Foâ€™sho! Weâ€™re going all out with the hottest new pog and slammer styles for 2013. Get fashion-crazy with FashionPogs!-- Jay Satellite

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

#RMFALL DUKE NUKEM FOREVER DUKE NUKEM FOREVER DUKE NUKEM FOREVER DUKE NUKEM FOREVER DUKE NUKEM FOREVER DUKE NUKEM FOREVER DUKE NUKEM FOREVER-- China Cabbage Facts

hey everyone at #RMFall what is your horny level?-- yr lil loveshark

(Asking for someone's "horny level" is a Weird Twitter meme)

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

Weedlord Bonerhitler, please pick up the white courtesy phone #RMFall-- Austin H.

take a shit in my pussy #RMFall-- t(0_0)t

#RMFall GOD AND GUNS MADE AMERICA GREAT KEEP YOU'RE POWDER DRY WAKE UP AMERICA NOT MY POTUS #TCOT #TEAPARTY #NOTRACIST #GOP #GOBACKTOKENYA-- t(0_0)t

my finger stinks #RMFall-- Preston Olson

HÍÍªÍžÍˆÌ»ÌÌ ÌœÌ¼Ì«EÌ’Í§Í‚Í£ÍƒÌ’Ì‹ÌƒÍšÍ•Í‡LÌÌ‘ÍÍ¬ÍŠÍ¨Ì¨Í”Í…Ì©ÍÌ¹Ì¯Í“ÍŽPÍ‚Í‚Í¯Ì´ÌÍšÌ¯Ì»Í•Ì¬Ì£ Ì”Ì’Ò‰Ì´Ì˜Ì±ÌºÌ¦Ì¼Ì®MÍ›Í©ÌŒÍ«Í’ÌÌ€Í Í˜Í˜Ì«EÍÌ€ÍÍ¡Ì¥Ì²Ì±ÌœÌ™Ì³Ì³Ì¦Ì¬ #RMFall-- Daniel Singer

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

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-- Passive Voice

REBECCA MINKOFF: NOTORIOUS BIKE THIEF #RMFall-- Ross Courtright

Sandy Hook was a hoax. #RMFall-- Stewie Cartman

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

Sure, I'll eat ass. I love eating ass #RMFall-- 1080

Hitler did nothing wrong #RMFall-- Nik Brodeur

Attention All Attendees: They Are Confiscating Bikes Out Front!! Please Go Check To Make Sure Yours Is Still There!! #RMFall-- â’·â’¶â’¹

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

#RMFall ass and boobs and balls and sexual toys etc-- Daniel Wright

live in a pit, die in a pit #RMFall-- rap game goregeous

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

#RMFall new Staind album dropping this spring-- quart

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:

How Twitter Trolls Took Over Fashion Week

This happened:

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