Keeping a high-flying media career afloat is a constant battle ? just ask us at Chicago Inc., where our monthly Champagne bill would make a billionaire blush. The need to maintain appearances can be overwhelming!

So spare a thought for Chicago Sun-Times film critic and columnist Richard Roeper , who the New York Times reported this weekend is among a slew of celebs who have paid to artificially boost their Twitter following with what turned out to be fake accounts.

And on Monday, Sun-Times editor Chris Fusco told Inc. in an email that "we're investigating these issues. We will not be publishing any reviews or columns by Rich until this investigation is complete."

Fusco on Friday announced that Roeper would be writing a news column, along with his movie reviews. Sun-Times management learned of the allegations after that announcement, over the weekend, Fusco wrote.

Roeper did not return messages seeking comment. Just how many “bot” followers he allegedly bought from a shadowy company called Devumi, the Times did not report, but other celebs and “influencers” have purchased tens of thousands of fake followers at a time for remarkably little cash, according to the report.

Roeper ? one of a handful of Chicago media personalities with national reach, thanks to his eight years as the late Roger Ebert ’s co-host on “At the Movies” ? had 226,000 followers as of Monday, down from 253,000 a year ago. During a one-week period in September, he experienced a sudden, unexplained drop of 20,000 followers, quickly followed by a sudden, unexplained gain of 25,000 followers, according to data from trendsmap.com.

Your Inc. columnist is pleased to report that he earned all 3,767 of his followers the legitimate, old fashioned way: by skiving off work, stealing other people’s jokes , sharing dumb videos and getting into pointless arguments with strangers.

kjanssen@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @kimjnews