Ashton Kutcher was left red faced this week after he described the sacking of football coach Joe Paterno as an "insult". Seemingly unbeknownst to Ashton, Joe was relieved of his duties after finding himself at the centre of a burgeoning child-abuse case, reports the UK's Daily Telegraph.
The furore began last night (9th November 2011), when the Two and a Half Men star tweeted in reaction to Paterno being fired, saying, "How do you fire Jo Pa? #insult #noclass as a hawkeye fan I find it in poor taste". Unfortunately for the actor, he soon felt the full rage of the Twitter universe, who relentlessly berated him for hours. It appears Kutcher wasn't privy to the fact that Mr Paterno - a beloved college football coach - was fired over concerns he didn't do everything in his power to stop an alleged serial paedophile, Jerry Sandusky, who was arrested over the weekend. Needless to say, the actor was made aware of his gaffe almost immediately, with one user posting, "Ashton Kutcher: Against child trafficking unless it involves college football" - the actor and wife Demi Moore have supporting numerous child trafficking charities and have their own foundation. In a series of tweets that have since been removed, the actor quickly took back his comments, saying, "Had no idea, thought it was a football thing" and "Heard Joe was fired, fully recant previous tweet! Didn't have full story".
Later, Ashton offered a more formal apology and vowed to shut down his Twitter until he found a way to "properly manage" his feed, he added, "I feel awful about this error".