Say what you will about Twitter as the social network celebrates its eighth birthday, but no one can deny the power of over 645 million users. Ah, but as is the case with any social entity that carries that kind of power comes the potential to abuse that power. And oh, how people have abused the power of Twitter, particularly celebrities.
What better time to take a look at back at some of the more memorable tweets from the rich and famous, so here is our Dirty Half Dozen Tweety Dumbs.
- Perhaps no one did more damage to their career via Twitter than Congressman Anthony Weiner who inexplicably tweeted photos of his private parts to random woman. A solid political career was flushed down the toilet and once the scandal brought him to his knees...he waited a while....and then did it again. The fact he ran for Mayor of New York a short time later only added to this Theater of Bizarre.
- Perhaps not quite as damaging as the Weiner Show but equally as stupid was Ashton Kutcher who tweeted his dismay at Penn State's firing of Joe Paterno during the Jerry Sandusky scandal that horrified parents around globe. Kutcher tweeted...
"How do you fire Joe Pa? #insult #noclass as a hawkeye fan I find it in poor taste."
Kutcher, who must have been renting an expensive cave somewhere during scandal. later deleted the tweet explaining he wasn't aware of the sex abuse scandal. Really?
- While we certainly wouldn't hold rapper 50cent up to a very high standard, his 2012 tweet attacking a fan who poked fun at him on Twitter hit a new low. 50cent tweeted...
"I don't want no special ed kids on my timeline so follow somebody else."
Insensitive, stupid and low rent... even by 50cent standards.
- Held to a somewhat higher standard we give you comedian Steve Martin and his racially charged tweet for a while back that created quite a stir. When a follower asked...
"Is this how you spell lasonia?"
Martin responded by tweeting (before thinking)...
"It depends. Are you in an African-American neighborhood or at an Italian restaurant." The ubiquitous apology was issued soon after but talk about brain freeze.
- Comedienne Roseanne Barr got herself in some serious hot water back in 2012 tweeting out the home address of George Zimmermann's parents' after the shooting incident that killed Trayvon Martin. Zimmermann's parent's are suing Barr claiming the 61-year old performer sought to "cause a lynch mob to descend" on their Florida home. Among the many problems with this tweet was the fact George Zimmermann wasn't living in his parents' home.
- Couldn't possibly have a list of dumb celebrity stuff and not include Lindsay Lohan...right? Well this 2012 tweet about the impending arrival of hurricane Sandy truly displayed the depth of the young actress' stupidity:
"WHY is everyone in SUCH a panic about hurricane (I'm calling it Sally)..? Stop projecting negativity! Think positive and pray for peace."
And perhaps she should have added, "and pass me another martini."
- When it comes to sports celebrities there is a bushel full of damaging and downright stupid tweets to choose from but we were drawn to Pittsburgh Steelers running Rashard Mendenhall's beauty right after the death of Osama Bin Laden. While there's the beginning of a message in his tweet that we get, he quickly loses us in sentences two and three.
"What kind of person celebrates death? It's amazing how people can HATE a man they have never even heard speak. We've only heard one side..."
As if that wasn't head-scratching enough, he followed shortly thereafter with this...
"We'll never know what really happened. I just have a hard time believing a plane could take a skyscraper down demolition style."
Wait. What?
