Clint Eastwood Inspires Twitter Buzz After Convention Speech - East Idaho News
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Clint Eastwood Inspires Twitter Buzz After Convention Speech

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Getty 083112 ClintEastwood?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1346426847272Mark Wilson/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — Clint Eastwood caused quite the stir on the national stage of the Republican National Convention Thursday night when he interviewed an empty chair, addressing it as “President Obama.”  The off-color interview sparked a rush of Internet buzz and produced at least two new twitter trends.

The twitter handle @invisibleobama inspired by the empty seat that accompanied Eastwood on the stage in Tampa, Fla., has generated more than 37,000 followers and counting.

The account had gained more than 20,000 followers in 45 minutes and had been mentioned more than 10,000 times on Twitter.  And its counterpart, #eastwooding, has prompted tweeters to post pictures of empty chairs either in support of or to mock Eastwood’s provocative “interview.”

Republicans aren’t the only ones having the cyber fun.  Supporters of President Obama have also been tweet-sharing a digitally altered image from an episode of The Simpsons.  The original image from the episode shows a picture of Grandpa Simpson below the headline, “Old man yells at chair.”

Now, Obama supporters have made the image their own, adding Eastwood’s mug below the newspaper headline.

The 82-year-old actor’s performance even enticed the Obama campaign to play along, tweeting, “This seat’s taken” at about 12:30 a.m. Friday morning.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

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