Investigative Group

Owner Of Twitter Account That Falsely Said Olive Garden Funds Trump Said She Was Hacked

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The California community college professor whose Twitter account falsely said Olive Garden is financing President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign said her account was hacked.

The now-deleted tweet, posted Sunday morning on Palo Verde College English professor Dennese Lilley-Edgerton’s account, said, “It would be terrible if you shared this and Olive Garden lost business,” after falsely saying the company was financing Trump’s campaign.

I DID NOT POST THIS! i WAS HACKED. I DIDN’T POST ABOUT FUCKING OLIVE GARDEN EITHER, BUT NOW I AM BEING THREATENED BY MAGAS ON HERE, IN MY WORK EMAIL AND VOICEMAIL AND GETTING CONTACTED BY MEDIA OUTLETS. https://t.co/FmnGImrMNE

— TheEdgeStays (@LilleyDennese) August 26, 2019

The tweet appears to be the nexus of the #BoycottOliveGarden hashtag that trended nationally on Twitter Sunday.

Dennese Edgerton’s boycott Olive Garden tweet is pictured. (screenshot / Wayback Machine)

Olive Garden as an entity has not made any contributions to political committees, according to Federal Election Commission (FEC) records, and individuals that work at Olive Garden’s parent company, Darden Restaurants, have made contributions to a variety of political groups including the Republican National Committee and Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.

Lilley-Edgerton, who is a frequent opinion columnist with the Palo Verde Valley Times, confirmed during a phone call with the Daily Caller News Foundation that she owns the Twitter account that made the false claim but denied she authored the tweet.

“It is my account. It was hacked. That’s my comment,” Lilley-Edgerton said Monday. “This is the first time that a tweet has gone out that I have not put out.”

“All I know is this morning when I got into my account, I was blocking a lot of people saying some really ugly things,” she said.

Lilley-Edgerton’s account issued multiple tweets Monday morning  saying she’s busy “blocking a lot of MAGAs.”

But Lilley-Edgerton denied she was the one that deleted her account’s original Olive Garden tweet Monday morning, saying she can’t access her Twitter account from her workplace.

She also distanced herself from a tweet posted on her account Monday morning saying the tweet was deleted not because her account was hacked, but because it misstated facts.

I deleted the post. But others have run with it and I am being targeted by hateful and disgusting tweets from the MAGAs. Even people I have followed from day one are attacking my post – I mistated one thing: they donate to the PACS not directly to trump.

— Dennese Edgerton (@LilleyDennese) August 26, 2019

“I’m going to need to get with Twitter and find out what’s going on,” Lilley-Edgerton said.

She posted multiple tweets saying her account was hacked less than two hours after speaking with the DCNF.

If you find any tweets about children’s bones or Olive garden that (I) posted, tag me so I can start deleting the bullshit. I was hacked and will not shutdown my account. That lets them win.

— TheEdgeStays (@LilleyDennese) August 26, 2019

Olive Garden has vehemently denied the accusation that it donates to any political candidates, including but not limited to Trump.

A Palo Verde College spokeswoman declined to comment when asked about the tweets from Lilley-Edgerton’s account, saying its employees conduct online is not on behalf of the college.

The Palo Verde Valley Times did not return a request for comment.