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Humor & Life Quote by Dana Carvey

"I'm a friend of the CEO of Twitter and he showed me how to be on it, but it causes such an uproar if what you post is perceived in a negative light"

About this Quote

Carvey is doing a very comedian thing here: confessing proximity to power while pretending it doesnt confer power. "Im a friend of the CEO of Twitter" is a humblebrag dressed up as small talk, a way of saying he has backstage access to the machinery of modern attention. Then he immediately undercuts that privilege with a plaintive punchline about backlash, turning Twitter from glamorous insider tech to a skittish room full of hecklers.

The intent is self-protective but also observational. Carvey frames himself as a novice who had to be taught, which softens whatever missteps might follow. It is the celebrity version of "Im new here" - an inoculation against being dragged. The subtext is: I understand the platform is a minefield, and Im not built for its hair-trigger interpretation culture.

The phrase "perceived in a negative light" matters. He doesnt say "if you post something bad" or even "if you offend people". He points to perception as the accelerant, implying that the outrage machine runs on misreadings, bad faith, and the speed of judgment. That is a classic comics complaint, but it lands because Twitter really does collapse context into a thumbnail. A joke, especially from a middle-aged performer with a long archive, is always one screenshot away from becoming a character indictment.

Contextually, this is also a neat reversal of old media logic. Comedians once feared censors and network executives; now they fear the audience-as-editorial-board. Carveys line captures the modern bargain: direct access to the crowd, plus the crowds ability to turn on you instantly and loudly, whether or not you meant it.

Quote Details

TopicInternet
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Citation Formats

APA Style (7th ed.)
Carvey, Dana. (2026, January 15). I'm a friend of the CEO of Twitter and he showed me how to be on it, but it causes such an uproar if what you post is perceived in a negative light. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/im-a-friend-of-the-ceo-of-twitter-and-he-showed-173490/

Chicago Style
Carvey, Dana. "I'm a friend of the CEO of Twitter and he showed me how to be on it, but it causes such an uproar if what you post is perceived in a negative light." FixQuotes. January 15, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/im-a-friend-of-the-ceo-of-twitter-and-he-showed-173490/.

MLA Style (9th ed.)
"I'm a friend of the CEO of Twitter and he showed me how to be on it, but it causes such an uproar if what you post is perceived in a negative light." FixQuotes, 15 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/im-a-friend-of-the-ceo-of-twitter-and-he-showed-173490/. Accessed 8 Feb. 2026.

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Dana Carvey on Twitter, comedy, and public backlash
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Dana Carvey

Dana Carvey (born June 2, 1955) is a Comedian from USA.

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