In the wake of a three-day complete and utter shitstorm, former federal Labor leader and likely Twitter troll Mark Latham has just resigned as a regular columnist for The Australian Financial Review, it’s just been reported.
The strange saga began on Saturday, when Buzzfeed’s Mark Di Stefano linked Mark Latham, columnist, to @RealMarkLatham, twitter troll, as likely being the same person. [Everyone previously thought the non-blue ticked account was a fake – read Di Stefano’s work HERE].
Di Stefano went deep, finding that even IF they weren’t the same person, then Mark Latham was definitely plagiarising @RealMarkLatham, based on exact phrases appearing in tweets before they appeared in columns.
When the article was posted and blew the complete fuck up, @RealMarkLatham took one look at the high road and bypassed it completely:
Sucked in Buzzfed wanker. Cite run by me, Mitch Carter, legend, of Monks Lane, Mount Hunter, Lathos mate from school. HaHaHaHa dickheads.
— Real Mark Latham (@RealMarkLatham) August 14, 2015
Hey Buzzfed fuck-face, I’m actually Bachir Mustaffa, taxi driver extraordinare, writing these Tweets with my one good arm.
— Real Mark Latham (@RealMarkLatham) August 16, 2015
Hey Buzzfed Sherlock, I’m actually the Bucks Night Porno Man, rooting a two-headed donkey while sending out this Tweeter crap.
— Real Mark Latham (@RealMarkLatham) August 16, 2015
THEN, Stefano proved Mark Latham’s email address was linked to @RealMarkLatham’s account. [Read about it HERE.]
At this point, @RealMarkLatham tweeted that he’d been sacked, and nobody could figure out if he was legit or not.
Michael Stutchbury still screening my calls 🙁
— Mark Di Stefano (@MarkDiStef) August 17, 2015
In a statement in the AFR article announcing Latham’s resignation, Stutchbury said:
“Mark has been a provocative and highly readable columnist for the Financial Review. He has been both loved and hated by readers – sometimes by the same ones at different times. While I didn’t agree with everything Mark wrote, he has played a significant role in Australian public life and brought rare personal insight into his writing.”
The article states that speculation he’d been sacked was incorrect, but leaves the is he / isn’t he the @RealMarkLatham thing firmly to the side. Not one bloody mention.
There is this, though, a nice casual reminder that this dude epitomised what it means to be a great Australian dickhead.
BYE FELICIA.
Picture: Ryan Pierse via Getty Images.
via AFR.
