Will Ferrell's Rep Insists Trayvon Martin Tweets Are Made by Imposter
Celebrity

A publicist for the 'Casa de Mi Padre' star finds it unfortunate that 'there's no way Twitter seems to get a handle on verifying who's who' after a user fooled many by posing as the actor.

AceShowbiz - Will Ferrell does not have a Twitter account. A publicist for the Detective Allen Gamble of "The Other Guys" clarified the matter after a number of various news outlets, including the Houston Chronicle and CNN, were fooled by tweets from a fake account that honor slain teenager Trayvon Martin.

In a statement to E! News, Matt LaBov insisted that the 44-year-old has "had a lot of imposters over the years just like Seth Rogen and a lot of other celebrities and unfortunately there's no way Twitter seems to get a handle on verifying who's who." The rep added, "It's unfortunate there are not better safeguards in place."

Tweets that weighed in on the Martin tragedy were posted via @RealFerrellWill. On Saturday, March 24, the owner behind the account wrote, "R.I.P. Trayvon Martin. For every R-T this tweet gets, $1 will be donated to the #TrayvonMartin Foundation, which helps counteract racism," leading hundreds of followers to quickly retweet it. Among those was comedian Aziz Ansari.

Unfortunately, there is no such thing as the Trayvon Martin Foundation. Upon realizing the hoax, Ansari deleted his retweet and wrote on his page as reported by The Hollywood Reporter, "just realized it was fake, just read it and it seemed legit. F***king fake Twitter people. Ugh."

Fake donation wasn't the only thing posted on the faux account. On Sunday, the imposter issued another post that read, "I truly believe that Zimmermon should have the death penalty.. #TrayvonMartin was a innocent kid who just wanted to eat some skittles." The account has since been suspended.

Martin was a Florida teen who was shot dead by a Neighbourhood Watch volunteer, George Zimmerman, on February 26 while walking through a gated community. Zimmerman, who has not been arrested for the shooting, claimed he was acting in self-defense. The 17-year-old himself was reportedly unarmed.

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