With a golden ticket to Riderville and half of his $170,000 salary in pocket, Shawn Lemon created a bit of a stir on Twitter Thursday night.

Actually, he had some help, when Ottawa RedBlacks GM Marcel Desjardins weighed in to correct a tweet which said the RedBlacks were in on the bidding for Lemon, who played nine games in Ottawa in 2015 and was a key contributing factor down the stretch, with five sacks and three forced fumbles.

One thing led to another, verbal jabs were exchanged, and all those paying attention in the Twittersphere had to do was fire up the popcorn and take a seat.

After the Calgary Sun's Scott Mitchell said the Argos, Ticats and RedBlacks were all in on signing Lemon, Desjardins responded, saying: "Not correct, RedBlacks were never in the conversation, by choice. OUR choice."

Shortly after that, Lemon posted a screengrab of what appeared to be a conversation with Desjardins welcoming Lemon back to Ottawa if the NFL tryouts didn't work out.

And here's where it got bizarre. Desjardins tweeted: "We have not communicated since you requested your release ... nothing more. AND THOSE ARE NOT MY TEXTS."

Desjardins re-affirmed that in a phone call. Absolutely. Not. From. Him.

"They were from him, I have no reason to lie," said Lemon in a direct message on Thursday night."

Bizarro world.

When asked if it could be a different phone number, maybe a mistake, Lemon said: "Nope, that's the number I've always had for him."

Lemon's end of the Twitter conversation was deleted Friday and he wasn't talking about it later in the day.

Lemon said he was appreciative of the time he spent in Ottawa with a team that came within four minutes of winning the Grey Cup -- losing 26-20 to the Edmonton Eskimos.

"I'm thankful for everything Ottawa has done for me," said Lemon. "I wish Coach Rick (Campbell), the players and the city nothing but success. Ottawa was good to me, but I feel like this was a better fit for me and a better opportunity for me and my family going forward."

Proper fit, ah those two words. The fact is maybe the RedBlacks didn't feel Lemon was a "proper fit" either. There was a salary issue during a time when the RedBlacks are trying to fit enough square pegs into round holes. There just isn't enough money to keep everyone and Lemon's $160,000 salary was eating up a big chunk at a position where there's a good chance the RedBlacks will get Aston Whiteside back. Whiteside had seven sacks and 13 tackles in a handful of games after being signed in July. He suffered a knee injury in a 35-13 win over the Saskatchewan Roughriders Aug 30.

So even if Lemon wanted to come back, Ottawa might have turned away.

A five-year CFL veteran, Lemon has also played for Edmonton and Calgary and has recorded 27 sacks and 12 forced fumbles over 40 career regular-season games. The 6-foot-2, 250-pound Akron graduate won a Grey Cup with the Stampeders in 2014 after logging a career year, forcing 13 sacks and forcing eight fumbles.

No question, Lemon still has it, he's talented. But he wasn't coming back to Ottawa -- and according to Desjardins, that was of the RedBlacks' accord.

"He asked for his release to pursue the NFL," said Desjardins. "We said, 'Absolutely, but just so you understand, there's unlikely an option you'll come back.' "

While Lemon plays out his two years in Saskatchewan, the RedBlacks will look for another solution, somebody else to chase quarterbacks for a living. By then, Twittergate will be long gone.

Twitter: @TimCBaines