Celebrities who tweet dumb, offensive and ignorant things should, at the very least, be banned from using the social networking site, because they clearly don't know how to use the technology. Perhaps they should be forced to take a class where they're taught that twitter is a public forum, and the whole world can read every single moronic little brain fart they manage to craft into 140 characters.
Gilbert Gottfried deserved to get fired from his gig as the voice of the popular mascot for international insurance company Aflac. He got fired because of his tasteless tweets about the recent earthquake and subsequent tsunami in Japan. Seventy-five percent of Aflac's business comes from Japan. How dumb can you get?
I mean, I have a friend of a friend who tweeted something stupid about Japan and "floodzilla." I unfollowed him. Whatever. He works in retail, I think. He's not a millionaire diva who makes a living off of shouting into a golden bullhorn for all the world to hear.
I'm sure some of you out there are creating a weak defense in your weak minds, so let me head you off at the pass. This isn't a free speech issue. This is business. You don't take a mess of money from a company that makes the motherload of that money in a country, and then roll out an unedited "Chuckle Hut" shock comic routine about how funny it is that so many of the people in the country that pays your bills are dead. I mean, if you do that, and get fired, then take responsibility for your own actions. Also, as a rule, I personally think a joke is "too soon" if there are still bodies yet to be found.
To make matters worst, his crude tweets about a disaster that took the lives of thousands wasn't even funny. The jokes were about floating corpses and making the ground move for a woman. Gottfried's comedy routines are not politically correct. But if he's going to make edgy jokes and push the "too soon" envelope, then maybe he could write some jokes that don't sound like they were written by someone's bitter, corny uncle. I can forgive tasteless jokes. But tasteless hack jokes?
Gottfried deserved to get fired. But he's not the only famous person who put their tweets in their mouth. Pop rapper 50 Cent posted some lame tweet jokes about the tsunami, including one about "white boys surfing." Mr. Cent is not funny. WNBA point guard Cappie Pondexter let slip a fantastically stupid tweet about how the tsunami was Gods way of getting back at the Japanese for Pearl Harbor. Both these celebrities should be banned from using twitter.
Don't these idiots have handlers? Or better yet, family and friends? A close confidant who isn't blinded by their superstar glow? Are they totally surrounded by yesmen and human leeches sucking them dry of blood and money? Hey celebrities — if you wouldn't say it into a microphone, then don't put it on twitter.
At least the press secretary of Mississippi governor Haley Barbour resigned after tweeting about how the most popular song in post-disaster Japan must be Otis Redding's "Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay." Again, this is not only an offensive joke, but an unforgivably unfunny one. 50 Cent and Cappie Pondexter have apologized, but its a little obvious that some beancounter or executive had to sit them down and explain, slowly, why tweeting dumb jokes about mass death is a dumb idea. If only Gottfried had had such counsel.
If you're a celebrity, you should be held accountable for whatever you say in public. Because that's what they do. It's how they make their vast fortunes. Celebrities and media personalities earn a paycheck because they stand in the limelight, look pretty and say things. Sometimes those things are controversial. Sometimes those things they say are unbelievably insipid or just plain dumb.
But, like, if an award-winning chef served me a plate of burnt Spam, I'd hold him accountable. Because making delicious food is what he does. Celebrities should know better. Those who don't should be banned from the internet.
Gottfried has apologized, by the way. He's more or less free to tweet about disaster victims all he wants. He just shouldn't be upset when no one wants to buy his brand of humor anymore.
Gottfried, ex-Aflac voice, apologizes for tweets
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