Penn State Scandal: Ashton Kutcher Gives Up Twitter After Jerry Sandusky Sex Abuse Backlash
Ashton Kutcher handed over the reins to his Twitter account after a recent tweet on the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse scandal created a backlash from the celebrity’s followers.
Kutcher’s management team will take control of the account that has more than 8 million followers, according to reports.
The actor tweeted: "How do you fire Jo Pa? As a Hawkeye fan I find it in poor taste.”
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The tweet caused a series of comments from angry followers lashing out at Kutcher, who later recanted the original post and said he was misinformed, according to reports.
Kutcher said he believed Paterno was fired because of his age when he posted the tweet, according to the Washington Post.
Paterno was drawing sharp criticism for not doing more to report Sandusky’s alleged sex abuse in 2002. Sandusky was charged with 40 counts of sexual abuse of young boys over a 15-year period.
The post was quickly removed from Kutcher’s Twitter account and several new tweets and blog entries were posted to correct the mistake after Kutcher learned the reasons for Paterno’s firing, according to reports.
“Last night after returning home from work, I walked by the television and simply saw a headline that Joe Paterno had been fired,” wrote Kutcher in his blog. “Having no more information than that, I assumed that he had been fired due to poor performance as an aging coach.”
As the actor learned more about the issues surrounding the firing, he deleted the original post and tweeted amended statements, according to Kutcher’s blog.
“I quickly retracted and deleted my previous post; however, that didn't seem enough to satisfy people’s outrage at my misinformed post,” Kutcher wrote. “I am truly sorry. And moreover am going to take action to ensure that it doesn't happen again.”
The fallout from the sex abuse scandal surrounding Jerry Sandusky and the Penn State staff seems to be far reaching.
In the wake of the controversial tweet, Kutcher’s management will take control of the account.
“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 as a secondary editorial measure, to ensure the quality of its content,” Kutcher wrote. “My sincere apologies to anyone who I offended.”
