The explanation is not as wild as you may think
(Picture: AFP via Getty Images)The official Instagram account for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) follows a total of 35 people. And while the majority are US government organizations – interestingly, 10 of them are Hollywood stars.
The hand-picked few are Melissa McCarthy, Claire Daines, Ryan Reynolds, John Krasinski, Jessica Chastain, Jennifer Garner, Bryan Cranston, Ben Affleck, Tom Hanks and Pierce Brosnan. In addition, they also follow the official 007 page.
Why does the CIA follow celebrities. This is so weird
— RegularUserName 🔥 (@WyattWillWW1) August 7, 2021
On the surface, it seems bizarre for such a high profile government account to follow a select few celebrities. As much as we’d like to dive headfirst into a world of conspiracies – the explanation is pretty basic, unfortunately.
It appears as though the CIA enjoy following A-listers who have played roles in the intelligence community. From Brosnan as James Bond to Reynolds in Safe House and McCarthy in Spy, one Twitter user accurately described the CIA as “a self-absorbed teenager.”
The CIA debuted their account back in April 2019 and has since racked up 394K followers in the past few years.
“Since many of our employee’s identities cannot be revealed, the public comes to know CIA and our officers through their spy movie and television show fictional counterparts — often more ‘reel’ than ‘real,’ said Nicole de Haay, CIA spokesperson.
“We like to play with this ‘Reel vs Real’ theme to explain how our global mission differs from big and small screen portrayals.”
People picked up the news and took to Twitter with their reactions.
Pierce Brosnan because he was Bond. Claire Danes and John Krazinsky because they starred in fed propaganda (Homeland, +half of JK's roles)
— Rotting Corpse of a metal vocalist ☭||| ☠️🧟🧛🪓👻 (@BelphegorGaming) August 7, 2021
Tom Hanks because of Saving Private Ryan, for the same thing. They've all actively helped the feds through their acting roles
It wouldn't surprise me if they were all CIA agents in real life. As others have noted, they left out Ashton Kutcher and Kiefer Sutherland.
— New and Improved * Comfort Supreme (@FiftyFour17) August 7, 2021
007?!! 😭🤣 TBH.. I think I read somewhere that the author of James Bond was somehow involved w/ 'intelligence' and that's how he came up w/ plot lines- but I could be wrong/ can't remember completely.
— Sophia Ponderz (@PonderzSophia) August 8, 2021
CIA must've been devastated when affleck and garner broke up
— Mercvrvs ☿🥮 (@illvxa) August 7, 2021
the a list influencers of US empire
— Anita Zsurzsan 🇵🇸 (@iamjourjean) August 7, 2021
ashton kutcher checks every day to see if they followed him back
— FREE PARKING (@fiona_lone) August 7, 2021
I believe every celebrity being followed played a CIA agent or something similar.
— Anti-partisan🚫🐍on✈ (@ShinkenLife) August 8, 2021
Lesson learned: the CIA is a self absorbed teenager.
