Last week, a model tweeted a screengrab of a Facebook message from a user named Terry Richardson: “If i can fuck you i will book you in ny for a.shoot for Vogue,” read the displayed text. Although we do personally believe the legions of models (Coco Rocha, Rie Rasmussen, Jamie Peck) who have spoken out against Richardson’s allegedly exploitative on-set behavior, the method of delivery was, in this case, suspect. What kind of high profile sex predator sends typo-ridden sex solicitations to strange models on Facebook? I believe that Uncle Terry is creepy, but I don’t think he’s stupid.
And while media outlets like Salon were calling the incident “the end of Terry Richardson,” the photographer was busy categorically denying the allegations in the press (“This is obviously a fake,” said a spokesperson) and hiring Internet forensics experts to prove his case.
And lo and behold, New York Post reports that social media expert Theo Yedinsky (whose services were reportedly retained by Richardson) obtained information proving that the photographer was not associated with the Facebook account in question.
According to the Post, “Facebook found the account from which the message was sent in violation of standards of authenticity, and not from a verified Richardson account. Online forensic expert, Theo Yedinsky, said Facebook had removed the fake account, which he discovered was set up two weeks ago from ‘some random Gmail account.’”
Previously: Did Terry Richardson Really Offer a Model a Vogue Photoshoot in Exchange for Sex?
