'Two and a Half Men' actor Ashton Kutcher is in hot water following a tweet sent out Wednesday night about Joe Paterno's firing.That's the message Ashton Kutcher— and no doubt scores of other Twitter-happy celebrities — have taken away from one of the biggest Hollywood Twitter fails ever, the Two and a Half Men star's Wednesday night tweet railing against the decision to fire Penn State football coach Joe Paterno, forced out amid the child sexual assault scandal involving a former assistant that has engulfed the university. Adding to the cringe-worthy nature of the gaffe: Kutcher and wife Demi Moore run an anti-sex slavery charity.
After being barraged by criticism, Kutcher deleted the original tweet, tweeted an apology admitting ignorance of the story behind Paterno's departure (he called himself an "idiot") and then Thursday, posted a letter to his blog saying that he was turning over management of his feed to his team at Katalyst Media. Punctuating the whole episode? A photo Kutcher posted of his shaggy self next to a sign reading: "I'm with stupid." The accompanying tweet: "What's a picture worth?"
It was a stunning cyber-comeuppance for a celebrity who, with more than 8 million followers, pioneered the very medium that he mangled. And it's a cautionary tale for other stars with a penchant for piping up in 140-character spurts.
"Tweeting and social media are a lot like medicine: First, do no harm. Then, get your brand and ideas and your thoughts out there," says Howard Bragman, veteran publicist and vice chairman of Reputation.com, who estimates that half of all celebrity tweets are from a star's, vs. their team's, fingertips; the "smart ones" vet their mini-missives through a staff. "Any celebrity who doesn't look at (Kutcher's gaffe) and learn from it is making a mistake."
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