'Yes, it was the intern': HBO Max email blunder breeds Twitter hilarity

The age-old bit on Twitter is, "Which intern runs your social account?!" At HBO Max, an intern isn't behind their online profile but is behind a recent email blunder.

On Thursday, June 17, HBO Max subscribers received an empty email with the subject line: Integration Test Email #1and a single-sentence message: “This template is used by integration tests only.”

After some took their confusion to Twitter, HBO Max Help tweeted an apology: “We mistakenly sent out an empty test email to a portion of our HBO Max mailing list this evening. We apologize for the inconvenience, and as the jokes pile in, yes it was the intern. No, really. And we’re helping them through it.”

We mistakenly sent out an empty test email to a portion of our HBO Max mailing list this evening. We apologize for the inconvenience, and as the jokes pile in, yes, it was the intern. No, really. And we’re helping them through it. ❤️

— HBOMaxHelp (@HBOMaxHelp) June 18, 2021

Rather than being eaten up by Twitter, users responded with a "Dear Intern" series, sharing and documenting their errors as interns many moons ago. The series of unfortunate events ranged from one user sharing their menstrual calendar with the newsroom to another taking an executive's credit card home.

Dear Intern, I was using my desktop calendar to make a monthly note of when I started my menstrual period, but after several months I realized I was making that note on a calendar I shared with all of my colleagues company wide. I was 37 years old.

— Caissie (@Caissie) June 18, 2021

When I was an intern for BET I accidentally took the company card home after work and had to rush to the VP’s house in harlem (I lived in Brooklyn) to give it back to her 🙃😂. Things happen 💕 https://t.co/1pRNBrQms4

— Nandi (@itsnandibby) June 18, 2021

Dear intern,

At my very first job I sent out a major corporation's press release 12 hours early and they had to reschedule a product launch. Their stock price dipped because of it. I was mortified at the time but now it's one of the coolest things I've ever done.

— wistful clown dog (@AttackDogButSad) June 18, 2021

Dear Intern,

At @nyphil, I ordered the tour tees for orchestra, presenters, etc. (~500). Wasn’t until I was packing them that we realized they said May 5-7 instead of May 5-17. Rushed a 🤑 re-order. Then everyone asked if they could have a “wrong” shirt instead.

Shirt happens.

— Olivia Giovetti (@ogiovetti) June 18, 2021

While social media can be a cesspool for misinformation, pessimism and limited nuance, in this case, many users — including the former White House intern Monica Lewinsky — made sure to hammer home one message: "It gets better."

dear intern:

it gets better.

♥️

ps. don’t wear a beret for awhile, k?

— Monica Lewinsky (she/her) (@MonicaLewinsky) June 18, 2021

Fingers crossed for "Dear Intern" as the next new show on the HBOMax slate:

Dear Intern, now is the perfect time to ask for your own HBO series. Everyone would watch it. Sincerely, everyone.

— Kyle Harris (@itskyleharris) June 18, 2021

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.