The Shorty Awards were handed out last night in New York amid incredible controversy. The awards, if you’ve never heard of them before, are handed out to Twitter users who exemplify Twitter’s potential “to create the best real-time short form content.” It’s sorta cute I guess, just recognizing people who tweet interesting things. There’s one problem, and it has to do with the award handed out in the “Weird” category.
The winner of the weird award was The Llama (@DoWhatITellYou) someone who tweets what you’re supposed to do. Like, “Pretend you have a dog or cat in your lap, whichever you like. Pet the animal and say ‘Good little llama.’ Good.”
The person who should have won, clearly, was East Side Dave (@rfeastsidedave) from Sirius XM‘s Ron and Fez show, whom we interviewed last summer.
Now, what’s more “Weird,” more deserving of the recognition of the likes of CNN’s Rick Sanchez, Paul McCartney, MC Hammer, Jimmy Wales, and David Pogue from the New York Times, a fake llama telling you what to do, or a confused-looking, red haired man flopping about with puppets?
So at the awards ceremony last night, as The Llama accepted her award, Dave rushed the stage, yelling profanities and gesticulating wildly. It was all over Digg and the like as well as MediaBistro, arbiters of all that is media-related in this county.
I, for one, think Dave was well within his right to be upset at this miscarriage of justice. Everyone knows that, in a few years time, the only communication we’ll engage in will be over Twitter, so it’s absolutely crucial to be recognized for your Twitter achievements. Dave was robbed.