Colbert Signs Up @PrezBillyJeff on Twitter

Bill Clinton sends first tweet, sort of
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 9, 2013 8:31 AM CDT

Stephen Colbert dragged Bill Clinton into the social media revolution on last night's special Colbert Report. In an interview that aired last night, Colbert asked the former president if he was on Twitter. No, Clinton confessed, "I think I'm sort of insecure. What if you tweet and no one tweets back? There's nothing worse than a friendless tweeter." That wasn't sufficient for Colbert, who had taken the liberty of creating an account for Clinton—under the handle @PrezBillyJeff. Clinton then dictated to Colbert his first (and so far only) tweet: "Just spent amazing time with Colbert!Is he sane? He is cool! #cgiu"

The exchange came during a live interview Colbert conducted Saturday to close out the annual Clinton Global Initiative University event for college students, CNN explains. Afterward, off-camera, Colbert took the rare step of dropping character for a Q&A, the Washington Examiner reports. Whereas during the show Colbert had jokingly introduced the "Colbert Galactic Initiative" (to one-up Clinton's global one), in the Q&A he said that if he had an initiative "it would be something with child poverty" or global hunger. He was also asked about his recent habit of campaigning for his sister out-of-character, and replied that he was willing to "break the jewel of my own career" to help her. (More Stephen Colbert stories.)

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