Larry Busacca/Getty ImagesFor someone so plugged into The Culture, Ashton Kutcher can be remarkably tone-deaf about keeping up with Important Current Events. For instance: he tweeted a misguided, insanely dumb remark about the sacking of Penn State University coach Joe Paterno, who was fired yesterday for turning a blind eye to a child molester on his staff. Said Kutcher (via Uproxx.com): "How do you fire Jo Pa? #insult #noclass as a hawkeye fan I find it in poor taste."
Kutcher -- fending off a torrent of incredulous tweets -- then deleted his post, following up with an apology: "As of immediately I will stop tweeting until I find a way to properly manage this feed. I feel awful about this error. Won't happen again." And this: "As an advocate in the fight against child sexual exploitation, I could not be more remorseful for all involved in the Penn St. case."
In their angered responses to his uninformed Tweet, many of Kutcher's 8-million-plus followers didn't mince words. "Maybe try reading a newspaper or watching the news before making such dumb*** tweets? There's an idea, Einstein.." wrote @jsmith1872. Another, @barrettmarson, was somewhat gentler with his language: "What kind of bubble does @aplusk live in that he didn't know of paterno story? #mustbenice."
But it wasn't just the laypeople who got in on the uproar: New England Patriots wide receiver Chad Ochocinco tweeted a response to Kutcher, saying: "Good luck fending off all the people you've upset with YOUR opinion boss."
Uproxx writer Cajun Boy perhaps put it best, calling foul on Kutcher's explanation that he was totally unaware of the Penn disaster -- which has been dominating headlines 24-7. "There's simply no way — NO WAY — this guy did not know that Joe Paterno was at the center of sexual abuse scandal," he writes. "This story has been EVERYWHERE and it's been going on for days now, and Kutcher is a pretty big sports fan. If he had access to Twitter, which he obviously did, he would have seen something about it."
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