Billie Eilish’s brother and collaborator Finneas has weighed in on a Twitter account that shares fake stories about his sister.
“I have no problem with a joke as long as people know it’s a joke,” the musician tweeted Tuesday in a reply to an Eilish fan who asked him to get the account suspended.
At @BilliesUpdatess, which debuted this month and currently has about 1,120 followers, there are tweets like “In a new interview, Billie stated that she cried when she got rich and ‘wanted to be poor so I can relate to most of my fans’ and “In a new … interview, Billie compares herself to Beyoncé and said ‘Olivia Rodrigo would have never existed’ if it wasn’t for her.”
Finneas pointed out the account is “Fake obviously” and added: “Honestly I just wish they’d label this account satire like [The Onion] or something.”
Fake obviously. Honestly I just wish they’d label this account satire like the onion or something. I have no problem with a joke as long as people know it’s a joke https://t.co/0GaH40SblV
— FINNEAS (@finneas) July 27, 2021
A few days earlier, Finneas told his followers that @BilliesUpdatess was "posting relentless lies about billie so if you see that account, report and block Em."
Also the account BilliesUpdatess is posting relentless lies about billie so if you see that account, report and block Em
— FINNEAS (@finneas) July 24, 2021
According to Twitter policy, “Users are allowed to create parody … and fan accounts” as long as it is clearly indicated that “the user is not affiliated with the subject of the account.”
On Wednesday, the @BilliesUpdatess bio included: “NOT Affiliated with anything related to Billie Eilish. Parody Account.”
Following Finneas' comment, the account holder – who claims to be a 15-year-old named Ethan – tweeted "WHY ARE YOU OBSESSED WITH ME FINNEAS" and then "This account is satire. (Legal Reasons)."
Many fans are not laughing.
“They’re making billie look like a very bad selfish person,” read one tweet, “with everything going on right now and the album coming up it’s not really something that we should ignore.” Another fumed: “Its not even funny, sue them for defamation what r u waiting for.”
Adding to the drama around the account, @BilliesUpdatess shared screenshots of a tweet purportedly from songwriter Justin Raisen that read: “I’m going to come to you and smash your knees w/ my f**king bat…STOP LYING and take down your account. got 1 day.”
Raisen later claimed: “My account/phone w/all my photos was hacked earlier today. I've reported the situation surrounding it to twitter as it involved some friends being mistreated.”