Roger Ebert Tweets Chastisement After Drunk Driving Death

[Fleur-de-Lis]

I had surmised that the bold and red was for emphasis not directed at ehellions.

But *we* are the only ones who were going to see it.  

So why emphasize in bold, red, extra-large font scream at *us* that someone's name was not being used?  Particularly the name of a person very few of us had any cause to know?  

A few people here have noted that they watched and were amused by the movies in which Mr. Dunn starred and presumably enjoyed the antics of the character Mr. Dunn played.  

Mr. Hartwell was a friend of Mr. Dunn's, and evidently was a stunt driver, so perhaps his name was known to those who follow that level of credits.

There was no reason for anybody here to name Mr. Hartwell; however, in not naming him, *we* did not ignore the fact that Mr. Dunn killed someone else in the accident.  

And as noted, Mr. Hartwell is hardly a wholly innocent victim in this matter.

Mr. Hartwell chose to ride as a passenger despite the fact Mr. Dunn had been drinking.  And if Mr. Dunn was in fact driving recklessly, that behavior on the part of Mr. Dunn was likely known to Mr. Hartwell.  

[ydpubs]

I had surmised that the bold and red was for emphasis not directed at ehellions.

Me, too.  It was right in line with the current direction of the conversation.

Same here. I didn't take it as being screamed at either.

[PeasNCues]

@ Blue Falcon - simply to convey emotion. Not directed emotion, general emotion.

[afbluebelle]

I still wish someone would point out what the insult to the dead is in Ebert's tweet. He WAS drunk, he WAS driving irresponsibly, and friends DON'T let friends drink and drive.

My offense was that it was tweeted right after the accident. Before ANY details were known...

When he tweeted, it was known that Dunn had been drinking earlier in the night (because he himself had tweeted pictures showing the drinking). It was known that Dunn had a history of poor driving. It was 99.9% known that he was speeding, because you don't go over a guardrail and 40 yards through woods if you are driving at the posted speed.

I completely understand that you feel the tweet was ill-timed and uncalled for, but I don't think it's fair to say nothing was known about the circumstances of the crash.

It is widely known now. I highly doubt Mr. Ebert knew Ryan Dunn had 20+ driving convictions at the time, and Twitter is just as time sensitive as any other photo site (not).  With the prior history of assumptions (right or wrong), I just don't feel this was a completely heartfelt thing. I respect everyone's opinion here, but I keep reposting because I keep seeing people that say that no one can explain why they feel the way they feel.  

I really just wish this thread had never been made possible, because there would still be two more people alive, one newlywed who didn't lose her husband (Mrs. Hartwell, for the record), and we could discuss Lindsay Lohan getting called into court for throwing a kegger at her house during house arrest  

[TurtleDove]

Dunn killed 2 people with his stupidity, and I see nothing wrong with making sure the other person is not left out of the discussion.

The other person also apparently knowingly got into a car with a drunken man known for risktaking.  That was stupid behavior also.

[afbluebelle]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/celebritology/post/roger-ebert-apologizes-for-timing-of-ryan-dunn-tweet/2011/06/21/AGXxBceH_blog.html

http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2011/06/21/2011-06-21_after_roger_eberts_insensitive_tweet_about_ryan_dunn_bam_margera_tells_him_to_sh.html


I have stated that my main issue was the timing and lack of now known information. I don't disagree with his actual message... I have scars because I believe in his message. But he jumped the gun, and i don't think it was all just for the message.

[Wonderflonium]

Dunn killed 2 people with his stupidity, and I see nothing wrong with making sure the other person is not left out of the discussion.

The other person also apparently knowingly got into a car with a drunken man known for risktaking.  That was stupid behavior also.

I agree and stated as much elsewhere in the thread.

I really just wish this thread had never been made possible, because there would still be two more people alive, one newlywed who didn't lose her husband (Mrs. Hartwell, for the record), and we could discuss Lindsay Lohan getting called into court for throwing a kegger at her house during house arrest  

This made me choke. 

[gollymolly2]

I still wish someone would point out what the insult to the dead is in Ebert's tweet. He WAS drunk, he WAS driving irresponsibly, and friends DON'T let friends drink and drive.

There was discussion about this in the early pages. Other pps and I noted it was the inappropriate timing, the use of twitter, and the wordplay used that made it feel inappropriate to me. If A newscaster was announcing the death and said at the end of the story, "please don't let your friends drive drunk," I would take no offense. Or if Mr Ebert felt the need to a tweet about it, I think he should have waited so that people wouldn't still been in shock over the news and should have skipped the "Donkey" comment - not because its a rude term but because it's too jokey a word for what is supposedly a psa. The fact that it was a tweet and the words used in the tweet suggest to me that this was not a heartfelt psa but rather a flippant comment about someone who JUST died.

Heath Ledger was well respected as an actor when he died of a drug overdose. If someone had tweeted "only jokers use drugs!" that night, I think a lot of people would have reacted negatively to that - dude, it's true, but it's too soon, it's too jokey, and let his family grieve without hearing this crap. That's how I feel about Eberts tweet.

[ydpubs]

I looked up Dunn's previous DUI.

It wasn't merely that he was pulled over and found to be drunk, he survived a big crash.

Yeah, the fool cheated death the first time and didn't learn his lesson. *shakes head

Apparently Bam Margera also said during the recording of a DVD extra:

Five years before Ryan Dunn was killed in a violent car crash, Bam Margera predicted Dunn’s death in eerily specific detail claiming: "He's gonna eat it one of these times [in a car accident], " TMZ reported. He made the prediction while recording the DVD commentary for Season 5 back in 2006.

[Scuba_Dog]

I still wish someone would point out what the insult to the dead is in Ebert's tweet. He WAS drunk, he WAS driving irresponsibly, and friends DON'T let friends drink and drive.

There was discussion about this in the early pages. Other pps and I noted it was the inappropriate timing, the use of twitter, and the wordplay used that made it feel inappropriate to me. If A newscaster was announcing the death and said at the end of the story, "please don't let your friends drive drunk," I would take no offense. Or if Mr Ebert felt the need to a tweet about it, I think he should have waited so that people wouldn't still been in shock over the news and should have skipped the "Donkey" comment - not because its a rude term but because it's too jokey a word for what is supposedly a psa. The fact that it was a tweet and the words used in the tweet suggest to me that this was not a heartfelt psa but rather a flippant comment about someone who JUST died.

Heath Ledger was well respected as an actor when he died of a drug overdose. If someone had tweeted "only jokers use drugs!" that night, I think a lot of people would have reacted negatively to that - dude, it's true, but it's too soon, it's too jokey, and let his family grieve without hearing this crap. That's how I feel about Eberts tweet.

I could not have explained it better.  I feel exactly the same way about the tweet.

I am furious, livid, angry, sad and sick over what Dunn did but I also found Eberts's tweet to be ill timed and phrased.  It's two separate things, imo.

[Twik]

I would imagine Roger Ebert would know if someone with several movies under their belt had a record for drunk driving.

Again, if you don't like tweets, don't read them. The tweet was not a message sent directly to the friends of the departed, it was a general public comment. A public figure dies in a stupid, horrible way - did they really expect EVERYONE would be saying, "Oh, dear, what a tragic loss! How could Fate be so randomly cruel?" They're lucky they didn't get, "Live stupid, die stupid".

[gollymolly2]

I would imagine Roger Ebert would know if someone with several movies under their belt had a record for drunk driving.

Again, if you don't like tweets, don't read them. The tweet was not a message sent directly to the friends of the departed, it was a general public comment. A public figure dies in a stupid, horrible way - did they really expect EVERYONE would be saying, "Oh, dear, what a tragic loss! How could Fate be so randomly cruel?" They're lucky they didn't get, "Live stupid, die stupid".

So i'm clear, you don't think it would be rude if he'd tweeted "live stupid, die stupid"?

[ydpubs]

Also, considering the man's lifestyle and the way he lived it's not a stretch to jump to a conclusion that booze was likely involved.

So the whole it was wrong of Ebert to assume Dunn was drunk argument really isn't valid. To assume something like that about someone like Dunn? Not outrageous or far-fetched at all. In fact his own posse expected him to die just in this way.

If a celebrity or famous person that is not known for being a party animal or drug abuser, then it would be out there to just say: Mother Teresa died in a car crash? She must have been drunk!

But say a Lindsey Lohan, or another person who has a history of doing stuff like this? It doesn't surprize anyone.

Sorry, but if you have a record of doing insane stuff, people can, will and do assume the worst. If anything, we're all surprized they didn't kill themselves or someone else with their horrible lifestyle.

[Twik]

I would imagine Roger Ebert would know if someone with several movies under their belt had a record for drunk driving.

Again, if you don't like tweets, don't read them. The tweet was not a message sent directly to the friends of the departed, it was a general public comment. A public figure dies in a stupid, horrible way - did they really expect EVERYONE would be saying, "Oh, dear, what a tragic loss! How could Fate be so randomly cruel?" They're lucky they didn't get, "Live stupid, die stupid".

So i'm clear, you don't think it would be rude if he'd tweeted "live stupid, die stupid"?

I think it would be rude, but it's not something I would be surprised to read. Tweets are not personal communications. Would they have been upset if someone had written an editorial that said the same thing in 100 times as many words?

[gollymolly2]

[So i'm clear, you don't think it would be rude if he'd tweeted "live stupid, die stupid"?

I think it would be rude, but it's not something I would be surprised to read. Tweets are not personal communications. Would they have been upset if someone had written an editorial that said the same thing in 100 times as many words?

But the conversation is about whether his words were rude, not whether they were surprising, right? To borrow my favorite Top Chef expression, this is Etiquette Hell, not Does It Surprise You That Someone Said This Hell. 

And we've said many times on here that the way you say something is, for etiquette purposes, as important as what you say.

So I dont understand how your comments - that they're lucky he didn't post "live stupid die stupid" or that someone could have written a long editorial with the same basic message - is relevant to the actual question of the rudeness of Mr. ebert's tweet.  It doesn't matter if its surprising. And an editorial - with a different tone and medium than Ebert's tweet - is not at all comparable.