Ashton Kutcher After Paterno, Penn State Tweet: 'I Can't Control Myself'
Ashton Kutcher said he does not trust his own thoughts after a Twitter fiasco Wednesday night over his ill-informed defense of former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno, who was fired Wednesday for failing to report allegations of child sex abuse.
In a humble post on his personal blog, Kutcher announced his plans to turn over his Twitter feed to Katalyst Media, his professional management company. His apology post explains his false assumptions before hearing the full story when he saw a Paterno headline on television and quickly tweeted, "How do you fire Jo Pa? #Insult #Noclass. As a Hawkeye fan I find it in poor taste."
"Up until today I have posted virtually every one of my tweets on my own, but clearly the platform has become to big to be managed by a single individual," wrote Kutcher.
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Paterno, coach of the Nittany Lions for the past 46 years at Penn State, came under public scrutiny for the alleged cover-up of child sexual abuse accusations that happened in 2002. The incident involved former PSU defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky, who has been charged with 40 felony and misdemeanor counts of allegedly sexually abusing eight boys over a 15-year span.
Speaking of the criticism hailed at him, Kutcher says he’s used to it. His blog post also said, "Misinformation becomes a volatile fodder for critics," referring to the sparked a full-blown digital name-calling affair with thousands of Twitter users hurling negative terms at the well-known actor. Names included "idiot" and some suggested that the star, married to actress Demi Moore, "use his brain" in the future.
However, the actor's tone remained apologetic and serious. He wrote, "I truly am sorry if I offended anyone and more over am going to take action to ensure that it doesn't happen again."
The "Two and a Half Men" star assured readers that he does not take his 8 million followers for granted. His post also expressed his view that Twitter has gone from a platform where people can say what they are thinking in real time into a full-fledged publishing platform.
"I feel responsible for delivering an informed opinion and not spreading gossip or rumors through my twitter feed," he wrote in his lengthy address of the incident.
"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 that a fun tool to communicate with people. While I will continue to express myself through @Aplusk I'm going to turn the management of the feed over to my team at Katalyst Media to ensure the quality of it's content," he said.
Katalyst Media is a Los Angeles-based production/social media company launched in 2000 by Kutcher and Jason Goldberg as a means to develop television and film properties.
