Top 10 Cringiest Tweets by Celebs
Yikes. Maybe it's time to kick them off Twitter because they need to stop tweeting. We've included the infamous mishaps by Spike Lee, Cee Lo Green, Chris Brown, Hulk Hogan, Charlie Sheen, Donald Trump, Covfefe, Gilbert Gottfried and Curt Schilling.
#10: Bow Wow Drinks, Drives AND Tweets
Forget Like Mike, It would’ve been dangerous to step into Bow-Wow’s shoes this time. After a night of partying in Miami, Rapper Bow-Wow tweeted and let followers know he had a bit too much to drink. But it was his follow-up post that really caused a stir. While driving in his Lamborghini, Bow Wow announced that he was “tipsy” and his “face was numb”. Fortunately, no one was hurt by his combination of drinking, driving, and tweeting. Bow Wow faced no legal consequences, but apologized for his reckless behavior. Hopefully he’ll take his own tipsy advice in the future and let someone drive him home.
#9: Bill Cosby’s Ill-Timed Meme Campaign
When it comes to comedy, timing is everything. As a comedian, Bill Cosby should’ve know that already, but apparently not. Twitter sure obliged in giving him a refresher course though! As news of accusations against him spread in 2014, Cosby’s twitter account invited users to use his face to make memes. The resulting images were (unsurprisingly) less than light-hearted. In what any internet-savvy person would’ve told him was the only possible outcome, people used the meme to call attention to the allegations. Although it didn’t take long for Cosby’s account to shut things down, the tweet clearly failed to yield the desired effect.
#8: Lindsay Lohan's Hurricane Sandy Tweets
Lindsay Lohan may have played a mathlete in “Mean Girls”, but she’d have a hard time convincing anyone she studied meteorology. In 2012, as news outlets delivered updates on Hurricane Sandy - which would prove to be the most deadly of the year - Lohan took to twitter. She referred to the devastating storm as “Hurricane Sally” and said that people should be calm and “not project negativity.” Considering positive attitude couldn’t prevent the hurricane from taking lives and causing billions of dollars in damages, the tweet was NOT well-received. Many criticized her post as inappropriate and out-of-touch. Lohan’s heart may have been in the right place, but it was an unmitigated social media disaster.
#7: Jason Biggs Defends His Flyer Miles
On July 17, 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight MH-17 was shot down, claiming over 295 lives. That same day, actor Jason Biggs asked twitter if anyone wanted to buy his frequent flyer miles for the airline. When met with backlash, he wrote a series of angry defensive tweets, insisting it was just a joke. Biggs ended up issuing an official apology that night for those who had been offended. This wasn’t the first time he succeeded in stirring up controversy with 140 characters or less, but this time around, thanks to the overwhelming bad press, it seems that he learned his lesson.
#6: Anthony Weiner’s Twitter Gets “Hacked”
Hacking someone’s personal account is a terrible crime… when it actually happens. Former Congressman Anthony Weiner told the media that he had been hacked when a suggestive picture of a man in his underwear appeared on his twitter account in 2011. After more explicit pictures of the congressman emerged online, he admitted to being the source of the original tweet. Weiner would end up resigning from Congress less than a month after the initial post. His political and legal troubles certainly didn’t end there, but isn’t it kind of impressive to think that “Weiner-gate” kicked off with just one little risque tweet? It’s a testament to the power of social media.
#5: Curt Schilling Connects Islam to Nazis
Former baseball pitcher Curt Schilling often takes a strong stance when voicing his opinions, but many felt that he crossed the line with an image he posted on his twitter account in 2015. The picture shows Hitler saluting and comes paired with so-called “statistics” comparing the incidence of extremism amongst Muslims to that of Nazism among Germans in 1940. Though he quickly deleted the post… the damage had already been done. Schilling’s implications about people of the Islamic faith got him suspended from his telecasting job as ESPN for a season. Considering what this cringeworthy tweet cost him, you’d think Schillings would limit his commentary to matters of baseball moving forward, but apparently not.
#4: Gilbert Gottfried’s Multiple Tsunami Tweets
National tragedies are usually a time for reflection, but comedian Gilbert Gottfried took the opportunity to practice his craft - poorly. After a tsunami devastated Japan, he wrote a series of tone-deaf tweets that joked about the flood conditions. Many found Gottfried’s posts about the disaster to be utterly tasteless, especially considering the high death toll. The negative press was so bad that shortly after Gottfried’s 24 hour twitter blitz, the insurance company Aflac fired the comedian as the voice of their duck mascot. Gottfried may have seen some humor in the tsunami, but it’s clear that to the public, it was no laughing matter.
#3: Donald Trump's Mystery Tweet
It was the tweet that broke the internet...for a couple of days. On May 31st, 2017, the world was forever changed when President Trump tweeted “Despite the negative press covfefe”. During the six hours it remained up, people scrambled to decode what the mysterious word meant. Was it a code to the Russians? A purposeful distraction? A simple late night typo? The news media and internet had a field day with articles and memes everywhere you turned. Maybe we’ll never know the true meaning of covfefe, but we’ll always remember the odd tweet that made an entire nation go: “what’s that word?”
#2: Cee Lo Green's Definition of Assault
In 2014, singer Cee Lo Green faced charges of sexual battery after allegedly slipping ecstasy into his date’s drink before taking her back to his house. After only being found guilty of possession of an illegal drug, he took to twitter to share his definition of rape in a series of tweets. In one of the posts, Green stated that “people who have really been raped remember” among other things. These tweets would’ve been upsetting coming from anyone, but considering how light Green had just gotten off relative to the allegations, Twitter users were downright furious. Green later apologized and deleted his account temporarily, but the screenshots live on.
Before we permanently block our top pick, here are some dishonorable mentions.
- Charlie Sheen Wishes Trump Would Die
- Hulk Hogan Highlights Daughter's Legs
- Chris Brown Spreads Ebola Conspiracy
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#1: Spike Lee Tweets the Wrong Address
George Zimmerman’s shooting of the unarmed Trayvon Martin was a tragedy that affected many in different ways. Nearly a month after it happened, film director Spike Lee retweeted a post that claimed to contain Zimmerman’s address. However, the address actually belonged to an elderly couple that had nothing to do with the shooting. Although Lee wasn’t the only one to tweet the address, he was still the subject of a lawsuit. He settled with the Floridian couple for a sum of $10,000 for the hate mail and harassment they received. Lee’s tweet is proof that even tweets posted with the best intentions can have severe and unexpected consequences.
