@CuttliffBlair was your typical Twitter reply guy – no followers, no tweets, a small amount of followed accounts, and a hyperfixation to fill replies with. In the case of “Blair Cuttliff”, the anonymous figure behind the account, this fixation was NBA refereeing. Specifically, the refereeing of Eric Lewis. Lewis is an 18-year veteran of the NBA and has reffed six NBA Finals games. Prior to the NBA, Lewis had 19 years of experience in the G League, USBL, NCAA, and Florida high school levels.
As mentioned, “Blair Cuttliff” loved to talk about, and specifically defend, Lewis’ officiating. Four of the five accounts that Cuttliff followed were the NBA’s official account, the official account of the NBA Refs, the statistical analysis account “Ref Analytics”, and the NBA’s communication account. There’s just one problem, “Blair Cuttliff” might in fact be Eric Lewis.
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The accusations that “Blair Cuttliff” was actually Eric Lewis were made, or at least collated, by the account @PabloEscoburner. They dived deep into the history of “Blair Cuttliff”, whose account was created in 2015, who seemingly defended Lewis on every tweet that criticized the veteran ref. This reply guy behavior had only gotten more frenzied during the Lakers-Nuggets series, where Lewis was accused of missing several big calls. The evidence in favor of Lewis being Cuttliff obviously starts with the account’s passionate defense of the ref. Furthermore, there are claims that the account is registered under Lewis’ AOL account. However, the nail in the coffin is the account’s fifth and final follower – George Mason Women’s Basketball. Now this could be perfectly innocent – an alma mater, a child’s alma mater. However, it doesn’t help Lewis’ case that his wife, Vanessa Blair-Lewis, is the women’s basketball head coach at George Mason.
As the net tightened, Blair finally broke. However, they did not admit to being Lewis. Instead, they claimed to be his brother, Mark. “Pablo, This is MARK Lewis. Right family (older brother). I’m sorry that I put E, in this situation, but this ain’t Watergate. You’re right, the account WILL be coming down. Twitter should not be this vindictive. Sorry to inconvenience you,” the Blair Cuttliff account tweeted at “PabloEscoburner”. HotNewHipHop has been unable to confirm with Eric has a brother but even if he does, it’s just a weird situation from top to bottom.
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