Twittergate: Why Celebs Shouldn’t Use Twitter, and the 9 Worst Celebrity Tweets of 2013

The temptation to join Twitter is a strong one, especially when icons such as the Prime Minister and the Pope are tweeting. But actor George Clooney takes a different stance—he believes that any celebrity who uses Twitter is a ‘moron.’

In a recent interview for the January issue of Esquire magazine, Clooney also speculated on how actors from the golden age of cinema would likely be overwhelmed by the pressures of 21^st-century stardom.

‘Not that I’m comparing myself to Clark Gable, whoever, but they couldn’t survive in this environment,’ the star of Gravity said. ‘They’d punch the s*** out of some people. It requires a Zen quality.’

In spite of the actor’s international superstar status, Clooney feels that being famous is incredibly restrictive. In 15 years he has not gone for a walk in New York’s Central park, despite wanting to.

‘There’s a funny thing about fame. The truth is you run as fast as you can towards it because it is everything you want. You get there and it’s shocking how immediately you become enveloped in this world that is incredibly restricting.’

Clooney is certainly not the first celebrity to be resistant to Twitter, though. UK Prime Minister David Cameron spoke out against the site in 2009, but that didn’t stop him from setting up an account in 2012 which now has over two and a half million followers.

Similarly, four years ago actor Hugh Laurie declared, ‘As I look around my friends’ tweets, I see banality on all sides.’ His first tweet, written on October 16^thof this year, reads, ‘Having damned this technology as the seed of Satan, I finally succumb. Let tyrants tremble. And so forth.’

Will Clooney eventually succumb as well? Or will he stand by his assertion that celebrities shouldn’t be using Twitter?

If ever there were a place to be reminded that celebrities are “people just like you and me,” Twitter is that place. And just like the rest of us, celebrities are prone to say some things that they regret. The only difference is that by the time they decide to take back something they’ve said, it’s already been seen by tens of thousands of followers.

So, is it worth it for someone who is already famous to give the masses another lens through which they can be scrutinized? Probably not, but that’s certainly not stopping anybody.

Here are a few celebrity tweets from this year that were not well-received. Even though most of the posts have since been deleted from the users’ profiles, that didn’t stop the public from getting their hands on them:

After a public feud with @KellyOsbourne over bullying fans and Fashion Police, @ladygaga made a birthday cake “peace offering” via Kelly’s mother Sharon, and apparently Kelly didn’t appreciate it (though she longer apologized for acting childish).

Okay, it’s not really our business how @NickCannon chooses to discipline his children…unless he tweets about it to his 4.6 mil. followers. #awkward

April Fool’s Day pregnancy jokes are usually ill-conceived… #seewhatididthere

In case you haven’t been following the @amandabynes meltdown this year, a lot of it involved her calling other celebrities ugly. This was one of the worst.

This one comes from the @kanyewest all-caps Twitter tirade against @jimmykimmel back in September. #kanyevskimmel

The “mistake” that @chrisbrown is referring to is when he physically assaulted his then-girlfriend, @rihanna. #advice: bringing it up as a trivial thing that is up to you to be “over” is not the best way to make people forget your mistakes.

To be fair, the @GOP has since clarified this tweet, but that didn’t stop everyone from getting up in arms over the implication that racism has ended.

Alec Baldwin publicly calls out a reporter who claimed that Baldwin’s wife was tweeting during a memorial service. @ABFalecbaldwin has repeatedly proven he is comfortable with attacking members of the press and throwing around homophobic slurs, even if it costs him his career, so this little outburst wasn’t really a surprise to anyone.

Homeschooler in the Real World

Emma Folts, a sophomore at Wheaton College, shares her experience about her transition into college and how homeschool has both helped and hindered her.
How has your homeschool experience benefitted you, especially in your transition into college?
I think the one thing that homeschooling did that was really helpful as I entered college was that it taught me time management. As a homeschooler I had the same freedom as a college student has to put things off during the day and go see a friend instead. Since I had that experience, I knew the cost of that.
Also, personal responsibility and accountability with assignments. I feel like a lot of the other students had more expectations for gentler grading and that the professor would give them retakes or extensions, but that wasn’t something that ever happened to me in school. That learning curve wasn’t added because I never had it the other way. I think another thing was that because I was homeschooled, I was familiar with the format of teaching and then studying on my own.
Did you see any issues with your transition socially?
I think that homeschooling had two ramifications for me socially. One was helpful, one was hurtful.
It was really helpful because as a homeschooler, I had spent a lot of time realizing and developing who I was as a person and learning to recognize people who were being themselves, and those were the people I sought out as friends. Friendship as a homeschooler takes a lot more investment. I knew I was choosier with my friends which made me a lot less anxious and a lot more content.
The only real negative impact of the social bit was that I was really used to getting to choose the time I got to spend with people. As a homeschooler I spent a lot of time with people, but that time was controlled by me. As a college student, I found that you can’t really control the time you spend with people and alone time is not really available. Learning to deal with that was a lot harder than anticipated.
Any last comments on homeschool and how it has affected your college experience?
I think homeschooling is really helpful, however it does take a slightly increased amount of advocacy with your peers when you’re entering into college. I think a lot of people come in with certain assumptions about homeschool, especially students. You’re going to get a lot of, ‘oh my gosh, you don’t seem like a homeschooled person!’ [You can’t] take that too personally and explain your experience so that friends can understand it’s an important piece of you, though it might not look like the homeschooling that they’ve seen.
My encouragement to anyone who is a homeschooler transitioning into college is to realize the benefit that you have having been homeschooled, and to realize that the bit of advocacy and explaining that you need to do with your peers is totally normal and that it’s not a big deal. Once they understand your experience, it’s not something I’ve experienced being looked down on for.