Fox Sports executive’s secret, abusive Twitter account uncovered

A Fox Sports executive operated a secret social media account where he attacked current and former colleagues, rivals, journalists, athletes and politicians and posted blatant, sexist and racist content.

Matthew Weiss, general manager of Fox Cricket at Foxtel, used an X-account with the handle @RealRagingBull to insult figures from the Australian sports and media industries with names such as “toothless icehead”, “spastic” and “media whore”. The account also urged women to open OnlyFans accounts and compared the appearance of several black women to Chewbacca.

My goodness understands that it was an open secret among some Fox Sports employees that Weiss was behind the account. Weiss deleted the account in 2021 but remains in a prominent position despite the company’s policies on social media use.

Foxtel would not answer questions about when the company first became aware of the account, but issued a statement saying Foxtel “does not tolerate racist, sexist or abusive behaviour in our workplace.” Weiss did not respond to email, phone and LinkedIn requests for comment, but deleted his personal Instagram account hours after being contacted by My goodness.

According to his LinkedIn account, Weiss has worked for Fox Sports and Foxtel since 2011 and has headed the company’s cricket program since 2017.

In 2014, Weiss started an X-Account (formerly Twitter) called @RealRagingBull, originally as a parody of former rugby league player Gorden Tallis. While some people tweeted on the account as if it were Tallis, it soon became an anonymous account where Weiss could post freely until it was deleted in 2021. Tallis did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Several sources in the Australian cricket media, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of speaking out in a closely-knit industry, said My goodness that it was Weiss who opened and operated the account. The account was registered to Weiss’s work email address and shared content from the Fox Sports offices. At one point, a Fox Sports colleague responded to a post from the account using Weiss’ name. The account also tweeted content that matched Weiss’s bio and social media posts on other accounts.

Weiss used the account to post not only content related to his employment at Fox Sports, but also hateful and abusive messages directed at numerous other individuals in the Australian sports media.

The @RealRagingBull account repeatedly targeted current and former Fox Sports employees. Fox Sports commentator Andrew Voss was teased with questions about whether he was fired (“Are you still working at Fox or did you get the rissole?”) and criticism of his game commentary.

The account also insulted former Fox Sports commentator Simon Hill shortly after the company fired him, ridiculing his new job, calling him an “oxygen thief,” claiming he dresses like a “homeless person,” and more.

Other prominent cricket personalities have also been in the firing line. Fox Sports’ cricket boss repeatedly criticised Australian cricket coach Justin Langer, telling him to “stick to yoga” when Langer got involved in the cricket broadcast rights row. He sarcastically called Shane Watson a “great leader” for playing in the Indian Premier League rather than the Big Bash, and referred to the Marsh cricket family as “a whole generation of spastics”. Weiss also repeatedly responded to a tweet by news.com.au that shared an article about cricketer Michael Clarke’s ex-wife Kyly Clarke, calling her “such an idiot” and adding: “Without him you’re nobody.”

Weiss’ report also frequently attacked journalists from rival networks, including ABC’s Jim Maxwell, The Australians Gideon Haigh, Rohan Connolly, Tom Browne of Seven, Richard Hinds and others. At the request of My goodnessHaigh called it “the behaviour of a rather sad little man.” Connolly said Weiss’ comments were “rather cowardly.”

Weiss repeatedly told AFLW players Tayla Harris and Georgie Parker, who was also a Hockeyroo, to “shut up” after they criticised Richmond over its 2020 groping scandal, subsequently calling Harris “irrelevant”. [sic] and Parker a “PC, unworldly moron.”

Parker said it was “shameful” that this abuse came from a high-ranking Fox Sports executive who is expected to create a safe work environment. “It’s already a tough place for women in a very male-dominated environment, and when you find out something like this, you’re always left guessing what the suits above you (who do the majority of the hiring) are saying,” she said. My goodness.

Outside of sport, the account campaigned against comedian Dave Hughes, tweeting abuse against him several times, as well as television presenter Karl Stefanovic, television presenter and comedian Charlie Pickering, and journalist Osman Faruqi.

Pickering, who had not seen Weiss’ tweets to him, said: “I think if he had had the courage to sign his work with his name, I might have noticed.”

@RealRagingBull also got involved politically, seizing on a 2020 post questioning Scott Morrison’s approval ratings to accuse then-Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese of being a buffoon and having lower approval ratings than serial killer Ivan Milat.

Some of the account’s abuse was also directed at companies and leagues. Weiss’ account tweeted several times critically about Telstra, which owns 35% of Foxtel, saying he canceled his subscription because of the service and advertising. He also mocked the A-League’s viewership figures while the soccer competition was still being broadcast on Fox Sports.

When not attacking others, Weiss’ account also frequently tweeted offensive content. He shared a photo from a Fox Sports camera taken during a cricket match that showed a black woman comparing her appearance to Chewbacca, and captioned it “Great [to] Check out my cousin Sharonda Bacca playing cricket!!!” Another post about Chinese food included the hashtags #Remonchicken and #unrool, seemingly mimicking a Chinese accent.

Weiss also tweeted former sex worker and media personality Samantha X, asking if she knew any “hairy ladies” who might be interested in starting an OnlyFans account with him.

The account spoke out against the banning of cricket star Chris Gayle after he made inappropriate comments to reporter Mel McLaughlin, stating: “If Chris Gayle gets banned, we’re joking… Have [to] Cancel any Christmas party at work.” He was responding to X-user @deathinvogue, who complained that it was sexist when sports TV star Jason Richardson called former Australian cricket captain Lisa Sthalekar a “toots” by telling her to “relax while f***ing”.

The revelations about Weiss come after My goodness broke the story that Foxtel CEO Patrick Delany made a Nazi salute on the set of Fox Sports. After initially denying it, Delany then claimed that his pose was likening an A-League fan chant to the Sieg Heil. This was later refuted by a video posted by The Sydney Morning Herald And The age The picture apparently shows him imitating the famous Nazi salute of former Socceroo Mark Bosnich, who was on set with Delany at the time.

When horse trainer Mitchell Beer, with whom Weiss often tweeted back and forth, posted about insults on Twitter, @RealRagingBull responded with advice.

“You’ll never be able to stop it or control it… It’s out of control. The best thing to do is… delete the app.”