Columbia College professor Dan Sinker's rise out of @MayorEmanuel anonymity reached new heights Tuesday when he appeared on "The Colbert Report."
Twitter-er and satirist Sinker spent about six minutes with host and satirist Stephen Colbert, who wondered if anyone really mistook Sinker for the real Rahm Emanuel.
"If anyone did, I would kind of question their sanity," Sinker said.
Sinker created the Twitter account in September and on Feb. 28, an article in the Atlantic revealed him as the author. Sinker, who met Emanuel in person last week during a radio event, spoke highly of the man who inspired his "very, very epic story."
"He was an amazing sport in the whole thing and did take, apparently, quite a bit of pleasure in it," he said.
So did thousands of others. When Sinker's final tweet sent a "tear-filled" @MayorEmanuel "into time itself" on Feb. 23, the account had more than 38,000 followers. That number is now up to more than 44,000.
Prior to his appearance on the show, Sinker tweeted that "quaxelrod.com now exists." The website is an archive of @MayorEmanuel's tweets and replies from followers.
When Colbert asked Sinker if @MayorEmanuel would return, Sinker didn't say no.
"Time vortexes are funny things, right?" Sinker said.
