To be fair, Ashton Kutcher isn't the first or only celeb to put his foot in his mouth on Twitter. Russell Crowe and Ricky Gervais come to mind... After all, giving someone in the public eye 140-characters' worth of free reign was always bound to end in tears and copious retractions.
While Twitter allows fans direct access to their favourite stars -- with no 'middle man' to act as a buffer -- the social media tool has become a PR nightmare for many an A-lister.
In Kutcher's case: defending Penn State football coach Joe Paterno who was fired for covering up Jerry Sandusky's alleged sex abuse of young boys. Following his faux pas, the 33-year-old Two and a Half Men actor pledged to tweet no more until he found a better way to manage his feed and/or seal his lips.
"I feel responsible for delivering an informed opinion and not spreading gossip or rumors through my Twitter feed," blogged Kutcher. "While I feel that running this feed myself gives me a closer relationship to my friends and fans, I've come to realize that it has grown into more [than] a fun tool to communicate with people."
Like the legions of foot-in-mouth celebs before him, Kutcher claimed that he's "truely (sic) sorry if I offended anyone." Although he will maintain his Twitter account, Kutcher's tweets will be moderated by his PR team at Katalyst Media "to ensure the quality of its content."
In an era of increasingly transparent media, celebrities are being exposed for making inappropriate or ignorant comments. Stars are only human, but -- aside from performing for known tyrants like Gaddafi -- should we forgive them for erring on the wrong side of political correctness now and then?
Would you bother to follow celebrities with managed Twitter accounts like Kutcher, or would the lack of authenticity put you off?
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