09-19-2011, 06:27 PM
Netflix announced this morning that it's renaming its mail-order DVD service "Qwikster." But it seems to have forgotten to check that the Twitter account @Qwikster was available. It wasn't: An affable stoner named Jason has been using it as a personal account for months. "#that'sSoEmbracing," he says.
When Netflix CEO Reed Hastings sent out an email to Netflix members this morning, they began to complain almost immediately, because this is the internet, and complaining is the National Sport. But what people seem to have overlooked is the joy that Hastings and his company have brought all of us, in the form of Jason Castillo, a.k.a @qwikster.
Castillo hadn't signed on to Twitter since August 16 before today, and for most of the day the most recent couple Tweets were "@kill About tired as shyt n i can't sleep" and "Bored as shyt wanna blaze but at the same time I don't ugh f**k it where's the bowl at spark me up lls." One might be forgiven for thinking that Tweets about insomnia and apathy-driven marijuana smoking were part of a very cutting-edge marketing campaign for Netflix, but Castillo has had the account since April. (A full 50 percent of his Tweets before today used the word "shyt.")
When he signed back into Twitter on Monday afternoon, Castillo was greeted with over 3,000 followers. (As of this post, he's over 7,000.) "Dayum over 3120 follower just cuz some ppl wanna buy my handle 3 ppl have asked but idk who to trust," he Tweeted, before telling his newfound fan base that he'd been stung by a bee and was going to play soccer.
Castillo says he will entertain offers for the account ("Man so much to plan so much deal so much negotiation n I want a plan when I still have part of it n stiL be making bank"), but that he needs to change his Twitter pic first. (Currently, it's a picture of Elmo smoking a joint.) The only comment he's made about Netflix specifically is above: "Dang @netflix got me the follower but the haven't talked about negotiation or interviews #that'sSoEmbracing."
Embracing, indeed.
http://gawker.com/5841931/meet-the-guy-w...er-account