Parody accounts have taken over the sports social media world.
As popular as the sports world is on social media, over the last five years, there has been a large increase in what X, formerly known as Twitter, describes as “parody accounts.”
Parody accounts are nothing new to social media. During Queen Elizabeth II’s reign, a parody account about her was created, but it was ultimately suspended for violating X’s rules and guidelines.
What many of these accounts would do is take the profile picture and bio of a reputable account, such as NBA Central, and very slightly alter them so that, at first glance, the average person wouldn’t be able to tell the two apart.
“These accounts are a real issue for the sports media world,” said Zach Barrios, a business major at Fresno State. “These accounts can trick viewers into believing their fake stories. Accounts with the intent to be humorous are entertaining, but imitating real reporting is a problem.”
The most notorious example of this is with an account called NBA Centel, which acts as a parody of NBA Central. In fact, Centel has created such a large following on X that when someone falls for false information specifically from the Centel account, it is called being “Centel’d.” NBA star Kevin Durant is the first to have coined the term.
While the individuals behind these parody accounts typically remain anonymous, conspiracy theories have been thrown around about who actually runs them. Many have speculated that Adrian Wojnarowski, the former senior NBA insider for ESPN, is behind the Centel account. The phrase “Centel is never wrong, he’s just early” has become popular on X due to Centel posting reports that eventually become true.
Two days before then New Orleans Pelicans Head Coach Willie Green was fired, Centel posted that he had been fired, leading to the official BetMGM X account to post, “I know NBA Centel is Woj, I just can’t prove it yet.”
“I think that parody accounts are pretty funny,” said Benjamin Yang, a geography major at Fresno State. “I think the existence of parody accounts are good. They’re funny and entertaining, especially during an off-season when following the sport goes under the radar.”
These accounts got so out of control on the platform that in early 2025, X made guidelines directly against parody accounts. The new rules forced parody accounts to clearly show they are a parody account, whether in their X handle, username or bio.
Because of the growth of parody accounts, people now have to fact-check information they see online themselves just to make sure they aren’t getting “Centel’d.”
“I’ve had to fact-check other posts to make sure what I’m seeing isn’t happening,” Yang said. “A quick Google search or looking on an official page would clear up many things for me before I start telling others about what’s happening.”
Many prominent news outlets and figures have fallen for false information from Centel, including Durant, Colin Cowherd, host of The Herd, ESPN and Fox Sports.
Engagement bait is another thing that has become more popular on social media sites like X as of late due to accounts being able to monetize themselves. Many accounts that are eligible to earn money often post absurd content to get users to comment or repost, such as star players getting traded to other countries, teams or even being released.
This is often done after a bad performance from a player, most notably in the playoffs, to make fun of them for playing badly.
The X account MLBONFAX is a prime example of an account focused around engagement bait. Its posts often include fake quotes and storylines that they create to get likes, comments and reposts.
Parody accounts have become a mainstay in sports media and don’t seem to be going away anytime soon.
