It’s embarrassing when you work in new media and you’re having drinks with friends who aren’t and they ask you to explain why anyone would be on Twitter and you can’t. You fumble for a good analogy (“You know how much you love updating your status on Facebook? Well…”), but nothing good comes to mind, and so you divert them with tales of random famous people who are using to site to ridiculous means. Phew.
Which leads in nicely to the list we’ve compiled after the jump. Unlike that fake (and totally not funny) Tina Fey account or the creepier (but relatively harmless) trend of fictional characters tweeting about their lives, these five celebrities are using Twitter for very real evil — be it self-harm or awkward discomfort that they’re inflicting on the masses. Add any virtual offenders we’ve missed in the comments.
1. The Real Shaq He could get hurt by a crazed fan before he gets a sponsorship deal from McDonald’s. [Editor’s note: We emailed Jesse (one of the two crazed fans involved in the diner incident) and apologized for calling him creepy. He responded with this: “It was a little creepy when you look at it from a certain angle. I don’t think we would have actually talked to him had he not basically told us to. I only expected like 50 people to read that though, so it’s a bit weird.”]
2. solangeknowles She passed out on the floor at the airport and then tweeted her ride to the hospital. Poor form.
3. DAVID LYNCH We live in New York. We don’t care about the weather in L.A.
4. freddurst All the old people musician name dropping makes us feel sad. And then we remember it’s Fred Durst. Of course it’s sad.
5. diablocody She doesn’t update it nearly enough. Maybe deleting it altogether would learn her. Sigh.