Roger Ebert regrets Jackass tweet
By Alexandra Heilbron on June 21, 2011 | 9 Comments
Just after it was announced that Jackass star Ryan Dunn died in a fiery car crash less than two hours after posting a photo of himself drinking on the Internet, Roger Ebert tweeted: “Friends don’t let jackasses drive drunk.” Dunn’s friend and fellow Jackass co-star Bam Margera was incensed, tweeting in response: “I just lost my best friend, I have been crying hysterical for a full day, and piece of s–t Roger Ebert has the gall to put in his two cents” and “Millions of people are crying right now, shut your fat f—ing mouth!” Jackass fans flooded Ebert’s Facebook page, clicking on the Report Page link, which resulted in Facebook taking the page down, telling Ebert it was “removed for violating our Terms of Use.” However, it was restored within an hour. On his blog, Ebert explains what happened, writing: “To begin with, I offer my sympathy to Ryan Dunn’s family and friends, and to those of Zachary Hartwell, who also died in the crash. I mean that sincerely. It is tragic to lose a loved one. I also regret that my tweet about the event was considered cruel. It was not intended as cruel. It was intended as true.” He goes on to say, “I wasn’t calling Ryan Dunn a jackass. In Twitter shorthand, I was referring to his association with ‘Jackass.’ I thought that was clear.” Although Facebook users continue to post hateful messages to the critic on the page, most posts are in agreement with Ebert. [poll=292]
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Roger Ebert is known for being rude, he shouldn’t have tweeted that
It is true, drinking and driving, and speeding too
So i got drunk last night, drove home and killed Ryan Dunn and Zachary Hartwell in a high speed crash. No big deal, right? I think not. Ryan Dunn muredered his friend because he was drunk. Stop.
While Ebert’s comments were surely a “faux pas”, he’s not known for being a jerk and everyone should realize that he had no ill intent when writing this. Bam’s reaction is fueled by his grief but I’m sure he’ll come to the conclusion that Ebert’s comments were not meant to hurt anyone but only a really bad pun.
Ebert was doing a public service reminding people this is what happens when you drink and drive. It would have been bad enough if Dunn killed himself, but he didnt! He affected another family by killing someone else. Guess his $ from Jackass movies weren’t enough to cover the cost of a taxi.
Of course nobody likes to lose someone whether it was self inflicted or not, so Ebert should have taken that into consideration. He wouldn’t like it if someone mentioned high-fat diets cause strokes would he?
yeah he may have been out of line,but he wouldnt purposley disrespected ryan dunn had he known he was already did,cause i saw an a& e biography on john belushi and even his brother jim said of all the reporters who were hounding him the time of his brothers death,ebert was there and he went right up to jim and said ” I dnt have any questions or anything like that like the rest of them,I jst wanna offer my condoelences to you for the loss of your brother”. So yeah its not like ebert has a track history of disrespecting the dead,if anyhthing its quite the opposite.
Ebert obviously is someone who fights for his life so I can understand why he would be pissed at someone who took life for granted and was just plain stupid and wreckless.
Although Ebert’s tweet might have been true, it was a little inappropriate to state that so soon after the fact. I think the majority of people realize Dunn was a Jackass for doing what he did, but two people did lose their life and we need to respect that fact, especially for the loved ones left behind.
I understood the jackass thing
What I do not understand is the people who think drinking and driving, as well as, killing someone else deserves berating a truth. Jackass was a jackass and where is the mourning for the other family who also lost a loved one by the hands of the drunk driver. Drinking and driving is against the law and if he had of survived, some of you would have pitied him for “killing his (so called) friend” The man, being a movie star (?) had enough money to take a cab or a limo. How stupid is this tragedy!