“Rogue” Tweet From A.A. Knopf Sparks Conjecture

I suspect founder of A.A. Knopf, Alfred, was spinning in his grave on Friday after someone at the imprint used the official Twitter account to tweet the (seemingly) rebellious message pictured above. Not surprisingly, the Twitter community noticed and started speculating as to whether disgruntled interns had commandeered the feed.

"Alfred Knopf seems to be feeling a little strange today” and “I think someone’s messing with the @AAKnopf account. Did the interns get access to it? #Bookhilarity”

Another prime suspect was Paul Boggards, Knopf’s Publicity Director — “who isn’t afraid to take risks on the internet,” but he replied with a pic of a golf course in Florida. So it wasn’t him, encouraging more conjecture and funnier tweets (my favorite’s the one suggesting it’d be even funnier in Alfred’s voice!).

The mystery was solved when Jonathan Lazzare (making up the new duo, with Danielle Plafsky, behind Knopf’s social media area) piped up to explain “he’s just a fan of Kanye West’s lyrics”, with the line from the song he took inspiration from:

I step in Def Jam building like I’m the shit / Tell ‘em “Give me fifty million or I’mma quit.”

So, not a revolution or sedition, just Lazzare “getting a feel for what works and what’s fun on the Knopf socials”. Interesting approach, but not one I’d recommend. What do you think? Did he go too far, or is it all just bit of “fun”?