No, Shirley Temple Did Not Join Twitter
Earlier this weekend, pop culture buffs and the AARP set were all abuzz when word circulated that Shirley Temple, one of America's most famous former child stars, had signed up for a Twitter account.
But 10,000 followers -- and a couple tweets to Dick Van Dyke -- later, it turns out that it was all a hoax.
The Prohibition Era star, known best for her curly hair, infectious smile and mad dance moves in films that now seem pedophilic in nature, spent her post-Hollywood years dabbling in Republican politics and serving on the boards for a lot of companies you've heard of. And after a 1972 breast cancer battle, she also became one of the first name-brand women to talk about the disease publicly.
Temple even exchanged a few tweets with TV legend Dick Van Dyke.
But alas, it was all a mirage. Several commenters on Gawker noted that once the account hit 10,000 followers, all those endearing tweets were wiped away and the hoaxster began pimping out a website (what it was, we're not sure right now). Not long after, the @TempleShirleyJ account disappeared, and her reps said Temple was not on Twitter at all.
Sad trombone.
Guess if you're looking for cute little old ladies on Twitter, you'll just have to make do with @BettyMWhite for now.