Entourage creator Doug Ellin is rolling with the punches after he mistakenly lashed out at a satirical article that proposed several “sensitivity” changes to the bro-heavy HBO series.
The piece was written by Max Davison for McSweeney’s, which should have immediately tipped off Ellin, who is apparently not familiar with the comedy site. The satirical column acts as a missive from HBO on how to update Entourage to reflect more current sensibilities:
Entourage was very much a product of its time, and 2011 was an entirely different chapter in this nation’s history. We have since undergone vast shifts in our views on women, race, and Ed Hardy. We don’t want modern audiences to have to confront this potentially offensive content or wonder how this show, an unironic love letter to douchebags, was ever considered worthy of being broadcast on HBO.
After perusing the piece, Ellin flipped out on either Davison and/or the Twitter account for “Timothy McSweeney,” who is not a real person by the way.
“You are very much a product of your time, you revisionist hack,” Ellin tweeted. “Talentless nobodies like you speak on twitter and then your zombie friends at shitty newspapers, that nobody reads anymore reprint your trash. Tell president Obama and the nytimes how offensive we were. Those who try to rewrite history are offensive. And dangerous. And Spielberg already regrets touching ET. Anyway, f*ck you. Oh we got a Peabody and a bafta too, ya loser.”
You are very much a product of your time, you revisionist hack. talentless nobodies like you speak on twitter and then your zombie friends at shitty newspapers, that nobody reads anymore reprint your trash. Tell president Obama and the nytimes how offensive we were. Those… https://t.co/N889tP3bMs
— Doug Ellin (@mrdougellin) May 19, 2023
Like we said, Ellin went off. His rant quickly caught the attention of Davison, who let the Entourage creator know that the whole piece is satire.
“Doug, I wrote this piece. It’s satire,” Davison responded. “It’s taking sensitivity readings to the extreme of editing shows from 15 years ago. The ET joke was quite intentional. I’ve always wondered what it would be like to have Ari Gold scream obscenities at me. Now I know.”
To Ellin’s credit, he retweeted Davison’s response and even seemed to appreciate the Ari Gold joke.
Ha. I’m very calm https://t.co/HVCt1YnDM1
— Doug Ellin (@mrdougellin) May 19, 2023
The Entourage creator then proceeded to own his mistake. “I’m not a very strong reader,” he replied to a different user who pointed out that the McSweeney’s piece is satire.
I’m not a very strong reader https://t.co/J8uDWXBKNh
— Doug Ellin (@mrdougellin) May 19, 2023
After Ellin’s blowup made it into The Hollywood Reporter, he ended the debacle with some sage advice to others: “Don’t tweet on edibles.”
Don’t tweet on edibles. 🤷♂️ https://t.co/nRjmAjchzN
— Doug Ellin (@mrdougellin) May 19, 2023
(Via Doug Ellin on Twitter)