@ElleOhHell's Gender Hoax

Overview

@ElleOhHell's Gender Hoax refers to the revelation that popular Twitter user @ElleOhHell, a well-known Twitter account thought to be an anonymous female comedian, was actually a man posing as a woman online.

Background

Twitter user @ElleOhHell was a relatively popular Twitter account, amassing over 23,000 followers^[2] and appearing on several "best tweets by women" lists online.^[3][4] On February 23rd, 2019, the person behind the account revealed over a series of tweets that he had been a man posing as a woman, using a portrait of his wife as his avatar, and that he and his wife were getting a divorce so he was ending the charade. The tweets were saved by user @dreamghoul.^[1]

Developments

After the reveal, Twitter user @dreamghoul revealed some of her DMs with the person behind the account, including a text where they told her "proper Twitter protocol" (shown below).

Other Twitter users reacted with anger, particularly because the interactions they'd had with the account were revealed to had been had under false pretenses. Twitter user @1followernodad expressed anger at the fact the user had actively courted female friendships (shown below, left). User @msdanifernandez revealed that she had sent text messages to the person behind @ElleOhHell, sarcastically writing "it’s cool to kno I thought I was talking about the treatment of women in hospitals, with another woman" (shown below, right).

Other Twitter users made jokes about the reveal. User @McLeemz tweeted a snowclone version of the Pagliacci joke,^[5] gaining over 80 retweets and 970 likes (shown below, left). User @marieberd made a Tired / Wired joke about the situation, gaining over 280 retweets and 4,500 likes (shown below, right). The event was covered by The Daily Dot.^[6]

Search Interest

External References