Rahm Emanuel Twitter Impersonator Revealed as Punk Editor

The Daily Beast, Monday, February 28, 2011, 12:04pm (PST)

After months of intense speculation, we now know the identity of Rahm Emanuel's imaginative, expletive-loving impersonator @MayorEmanuel. Punk rock journalist Dan Sinker (@dansinker) leaped out of the Twitter closet this morning in a profile in The Atlantic.

"The genius behind @MayorEmanuel is Dan Sinker, who has a heart made out of Chicago and balls of punk rock," writes Alexis Madrigal in his big scoop about the Twitter prankster who drew far more followers than the actual Rahm Emanuel.

Why should you even care? The mayor-elect himself was offering $5,000 to encourage his dirty satirical alter-ego to reveal himself during the campaign. No such luck for President Obama's former chief of staff. Instead Sinker, who used to run the zine Punk Planet, kept on posting f-word filled updates about his crazy adventures of traveling across Chicago in a Honda Civic.

It's not easy to keep one's identity a secret in the Twitter-age, but Sinker, who teaches journalism at Columbia College Chicago, pulled it off with the stealthiness of a Cold War spy. His media-grabbing pastime was known only to his wife, a few friends and a Chicago teacher, who kept the secret, according to The Atlantic.

Toward the end of the campaign, Sinker began to worry someone would figure him out.

"The train rides became totally paranoia-inducing by the end. I would think, 'Is anybody watching this? Why is that guy looking at my phone? Who is this?'" he said. "Your brain starts going a little crazy. I'm looking forward to my brain not feeling so crazy."

And so perhaps that is why he has put the mystery to rest once and for all. We're hoping that there's a good photo op with him and the new mayor some time soon.