Patton Oswalt is trolling the Twitter trolls once again -- and some are totally falling for it, of course.
The comedian, writer, actor and social media provocateur posted a series of tweets on Wednesday apologizing for offensive “deleted” tweets -- that he never actually sent in the first place.
It started just before 1 p.m. ET, with this:
Oops. Just deleted my last Tweet. & would like to apologize to seniors & sufferers of Lyme disease. I was out of bounds.
— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) May 7, 2014
There never was a tweet about seniors or sufferers of Lyme disease, so you can stop looking. Many folks seemed confused -- he got a few earnest replies to the tweet -- then immediately followed up with:
Yikes. Had to delete another Tweet. I crossed a line on that one. Also, I thought 12 YEARS A SLAVE and THE BUTLER were brilliant.
— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) May 7, 2014
Then he got on a roll:
PLEASE disregard last Tweet. Already deleted. Transphobia is hurtful, and I'm a big fan of HEDWIG & THE ANGRY INCH.
— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) May 7, 2014
Forgive me. Previous Tweet deleted. Sorry. Yes, we all know what "grape", "ape", "tape" & "cape" rhyme with. I'm an asshole.
— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) May 7, 2014
(That one got a response that Oswalt retweeted):
@pattonoswalt Don't people have a reasonable right to be offended by rape jokes? Not sure what you're trying to defend here.
— tyler (@coolsexguy) May 7, 2014
And he kept on going:
Previous Tweet very hurtful. Already deleted. @KimKardashian & @JoeBiden are national treasures. As are our Native American friends.
— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) May 7, 2014
Another Tweet deleted. I apologize. That one was just mean. Go ahead & block me, @AnthonyCumia & @thelindywest. #tolerance
— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) May 7, 2014
Apparently wrapping things up with the ultimate don't-go-there troll bait:
The FUCK is wrong with me? Last Tweet deleted. The victims of the Holocaust deserve our highest respect, not penis limericks.
— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) May 7, 2014
There are deep layers of nuance to Oswald’s Twitter gambits. Of course, deep down, he doesn’t want people to actually be morally outraged over nothing. But by drawing them out, he makes an example of them, the result being both brilliant social commentary -- and plain old humor.
To be fair, some people seemed to get it.
Looks like it's "@pattonoswalt weeds out people who don't understand humor" day.
— Kay Reindl (@KayReindl) May 7, 2014
Oswalt has pulled this kind of stunt before. In August, he sent a series of two-part tweets that, when taken together, read like harmless, politically correct social commentary. But taken separately, some read shockingly offensive -- on purpose, mind you -- and an alarming number of people took the out-of-context bait. An example:
Oh, you think repealing voting laws in the south is justified, you racist asshole? I suppose you ALSO believe that
— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) August 17, 2013
Hitler was absolutely right about the Jews. And I don't care how many "white power" redneck followers I lose by Tweeting that.
— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) August 17, 2013
Point is, Oswalt wants us to be less outraged, so he’s stirring up outrage to make that point. He’s trolling Twitter trolls as a way of trolling Twitter trolling.
Troll on, troll troller.