Holy Moly reveals top 40 celebrity narcissists on Twitter

LONDON - Acid-tongued celebrity gossip website Holy Moly has published a top 40 of the most narcissistic celebrities on Twitter, a list that includes Lily Allen, Chris Moyles, Stephen Fry and Paul Daniels.

It will come as no small surprise to many that in the number one slot is comedian, actor and sex-addict Russell Brand (and the story appearing on Holy Moly is illustrated with a neat visual metaphor of Russell Brand embracing himself).

include Ashton Kutcher and wife Demi Moore , TV presenter Fearne Cotton, TV chef Jamie Oliver, US gossip columnist Perez Hilton and business tycoon Richard Branson.

Holy Moly said that its main bone of contention was with those celebrities who use the site purely as an adjunct of their publicity machine.

The site said: "Twitter is supposed to be interactive; the very nature of its success is based on one person talking to another.

"What it is not is a forum for celebrities to use as a ready-made fan site."

Holy Moly goes to pains to point out that the list was not drawn up by arbitrary means and that rigorous scientific methodology was applied and an equation formulated.

The equation identifies the most self-regarding celebrities on the basis that those with larger gaps between the numbers of "followers" and "following" are the most egotistic.

"The service has quickly become a very easy, cheap way for celebrities to have their ego stroked so they can bask in the glory of their popularity. Some people are brilliant (Adam Woodyatt, Boris Johnson), but the majority are complete and utter self-obsessed wankers," Holy Moly wrote.

The item on celebrity Twitterers signs off with a plea to the most narcissistic: "Enough with the smug backslapping and either interact or fuck off."

In recent months, celebrities have shown a remarkable appetite for using Twitter as a free form of PR. Many do not even post their own Tweets and instead use ghost writers to post for them.

One example is former gangster and rapper 50 Cent, who apparently posted to his 200,000 followers this pearl of wisdom: "My ambition leads me through a tunnel that never ends."

However, it transpired that the words were not 50 Cent's own, but those of the director of the rapper's web empire Chris Romero.

Romero unconvincingly defended the deception, and said: "He doesn't actually use Twitter, but the energy of it is all him."

Other celebrities who use ghosts writers to Twitter in their name include pop star Britney Spears and 50 Cent's fellow rapper Kanye West.

You have

[DAYS_LEFT] Days left

of your free trial

Subscribe now

Get a team licence 

 Give your teams unrestricted access to in-depth editorial analysis, breaking news and premium reports with a bespoke subscription to ±±¾©Èü³µpk10.

Find out more

Market Reports

Get unprecedented new-business intelligence with access to ±±¾©Èü³µpk10’s new Market Reports.

Find out more

Looking for a new job?

Get the latest creative jobs in advertising, media, marketing and digital delivered directly to your inbox each day.

Create an Alert Now