Twitter Hall Of Shame

Technically, it may not be fair to induct Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., here because an overzealous staffer is to blame for the Twitter controversy that sullied Brownback’s social media reputation. But who said politics is fair?

The Brownback staffer in question demanded an apology from Emma Sullivan, a Kansas student who tweeted harsh words about Brownback while at a school function. But Brownback ended up apologizing — and his name became synonymous with a slam describing anyone who acts like a jerk.

The lead in the Phoenix New Times sums up this Twitter fiasco best: “If your public relations firm happens to represent an organization that advocates for people with disabilities, it’s probably in your best interest to not make fun of people with disabilities.”

Jason Rose violated that rule of common sense, and his company lost business with the Special Olympics Arizona as a result. Rose deleted the tweet that compared a “knucklehead” fan of the Phoenix Coyotes hockey team with “midgets” and “special ed” people who live nearby, and he apologized for it.

Washington Redskins receiver Jabar Gaffney clearly didn’t learn much from the Twitter foibles of fellow NFL players Anthony Davis or Bernard Berrian — or from his own post-game Twitter tantrum, for that matter.

After the Redskins lost to the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday, Gaffney told one gloating Cowboys fan via Twitter to “get a life or kill urself.” The news coverage that ensued no doubt prompted Gaffney to delete that tweet and related ones.

But he then retweeted a Redskins fan’s equally hostile comment — “I do want that Man to kill himself..one less cowboys fan” — and complained: “They say I can’t tell people to kill themselves didn’t know freedom of speech had limitations so I’ll just say #uknowwhattodo #HTTR better?”

Like all loyal University of Alabama fans, Ed Henry loves to crack jokes about rival Auburn. The problem is that Henry also is a state lawmaker, and the joke he cracked on Twitter yesterday, after a tornado hit Auburn, made him look like an insensitive jerk.

Henry, who apologized and deleted the tweet, said he wasn’t aware that Auburn had been hit by a tornado when he posted the wisecrack.

Lauren Pierce, president of the College Republicans at the University of Texas, said she “learned a very valuable” lesson after she tweeted a joke that while it may be “tempting” to assassinate President Obama, his critics shouldn’t do it because “we need him to go down in history as the WORST president we’ve EVER had!”

After ABC News noted her tweet, Pierce apologized, deleted the tweet, removed her photo from Twitter and locked her tweets from public view. “It’s never funny to joke about such a serious matter,” Pierce acknowledged. The Texas College Republicans called for her resignation over the tweet.

The $5,000 bonus that martial arts fighter Forrest Griffin won for “creativity” on Twitter must have gone to his head because he promptly created a rape tweet that embarrassed the Ultimate Fighting Championship league and prompted Griffin to apologize and make a donation to a rape crisis center.

Think before you tweet, or you’ll be figuratively bloodied like Griffin was literally in the above photo.

Ashton Kutcher is doing his worst to follow in disgraced actor Charlie Sheen’s footsteps — on television and on Twitter. This week he:

• Published and then deleted a tweet in defense of fired Penn State football coach Joe Paterno (“How do you fire Jo Pa? #insult #noclass as a hawkeye fan I find it in poor taste.”);
• Apologized for his lapse in judgment;
• Vowed to stop tweeting without running his blather by his PR people;
• And then posted the photo above.

You’d think a man smart enough to get elected mayor would know better than to insult a blogger on Twitter, especially a blogger who’s a political enemy. But Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi failed that test.

“I know I should not bother when you’re off your meds,” he tweeted, “but I love how freedom of speech is now an extreme lefty issue.” Nenshi later apologized for the tweet.

Comedian Jimmy Carr blamed bad timing for this Twitter humor FAIL: “An couple married for 66 yrs died within 3 days of each other. That’s nothing. My grandparents died on exactly the same day…. car crash.”

He published the tweet soon after seven people died in a pile-up on England’s M5 motorway.

Wow, that was one expensive series of tweets! The National Basketball Association slapped Miami Heat owner Micky Arison with a $500,000 fine for tweeting about the NBA lockout in violation of the league’s gag order.

Arison earns his spot on this roster simply because of the enormity of the fine. Readers and NBA fans can decide for themselves whether his tweets were shameful.