It was only one tweet. Seven words regarding the death of a minor celebrity who made his name by taking risks.
"Friends don't let jackasses drink and drive."
That's all it took for Roger Ebert to spawn a cyber-maelstrom, causing fans of the deceased - Ryan Dunn, a "Jackass" stunt crew member who died in a high-speed crash Monday - to viciously attack the renowned Chicago Sun-Times film critic.
Investigators have not said alcohol was a factor in the one-vehicle crash, which happened in Pennsylvania, but they did say Dunn's Porsche might have been traveling as fast as 100 mph. Not long before the crash, Dunn put a photo on Twitter that showed him drinking with friends.
In a post on his blog Tuesday, Ebert extended "sympathy to Ryan Dunn's family and friends, and to those of Zachary Hartwell, who also died in the crash."
"I don't know what happened in this case, and I was probably too quick to tweet. That was unseemly," Ebert acknowledged.
The question at the center of the online debate was whether Ebert was out of line with his initial tweet, or whether he was speaking the truth about a tragic event.
Bernard Beck, an associate professor emeritus of sociology at Northwestern University, said there are no answers to these questions, particularly because the whole imbroglio took place in cyberspace.
"There's no authority there, it's not a matter of law, there's not even a Miss Manners to ask questions about what's right," Beck said. "We have this technology where we have the participation of everybody in the world in everybody else's business. People who have no connection to these events feel invited to express their opinion."
Shortly after Ebert's tweet went out to his nearly 480,000 Twitter followers, fellow "Jackass" star Bam Margera unleashed some vitriolic tweets directed at the critic, and other Twitter users followed suit. Celebrity blogger Perez Hilton also went after Ebert, writing: "We understand what he's trying to say, but still - this is extremely insensitive!"
Early Tuesday, Ebert said that his Facebook page had been taken down, tweeting that it was "in response, apparently, to malicious complaints from one or two jerks." But Facebook restored the page and released a statement saying: "The page was removed in error. We apologize for the inconvenience."
Those defending Ebert said Dunn was being held to a different standard because of his celebrity. Had it been an average Joe, some posited, a majority of people would be condemning that person for reckless driving.
Ebert wrote in his blog that he regretted that his tweet was considered cruel: "It was not intended as cruel. It was intended as true."
That's Ebert's opinion, Beck noted, which he's entitled to as much as the next person with Web access and a Twitter account or Facebook page.
"It's as though the entire world has become a tavern," Beck said. "Everybody knows that when you go to a tavern you get to open your mouth, pick fights, argue. There's even an expression for it - a bar fight."
"Friends don't let jackasses drink and drive."
That's all it took for Roger Ebert to spawn a cyber-maelstrom, causing fans of the deceased - Ryan Dunn, a "Jackass" stunt crew member who died in a high-speed crash Monday - to viciously attack the renowned Chicago Sun-Times film critic.
Investigators have not said alcohol was a factor in the one-vehicle crash, which happened in Pennsylvania, but they did say Dunn's Porsche might have been traveling as fast as 100 mph. Not long before the crash, Dunn put a photo on Twitter that showed him drinking with friends.
In a post on his blog Tuesday, Ebert extended "sympathy to Ryan Dunn's family and friends, and to those of Zachary Hartwell, who also died in the crash."
"I don't know what happened in this case, and I was probably too quick to tweet. That was unseemly," Ebert acknowledged.
The question at the center of the online debate was whether Ebert was out of line with his initial tweet, or whether he was speaking the truth about a tragic event.
Bernard Beck, an associate professor emeritus of sociology at Northwestern University, said there are no answers to these questions, particularly because the whole imbroglio took place in cyberspace.
"There's no authority there, it's not a matter of law, there's not even a Miss Manners to ask questions about what's right," Beck said. "We have this technology where we have the participation of everybody in the world in everybody else's business. People who have no connection to these events feel invited to express their opinion."
Shortly after Ebert's tweet went out to his nearly 480,000 Twitter followers, fellow "Jackass" star Bam Margera unleashed some vitriolic tweets directed at the critic, and other Twitter users followed suit. Celebrity blogger Perez Hilton also went after Ebert, writing: "We understand what he's trying to say, but still - this is extremely insensitive!"
Early Tuesday, Ebert said that his Facebook page had been taken down, tweeting that it was "in response, apparently, to malicious complaints from one or two jerks." But Facebook restored the page and released a statement saying: "The page was removed in error. We apologize for the inconvenience."
Those defending Ebert said Dunn was being held to a different standard because of his celebrity. Had it been an average Joe, some posited, a majority of people would be condemning that person for reckless driving.
Ebert wrote in his blog that he regretted that his tweet was considered cruel: "It was not intended as cruel. It was intended as true."
That's Ebert's opinion, Beck noted, which he's entitled to as much as the next person with Web access and a Twitter account or Facebook page.
"It's as though the entire world has become a tavern," Beck said. "Everybody knows that when you go to a tavern you get to open your mouth, pick fights, argue. There's even an expression for it - a bar fight."
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