The offending tweet(s): "Just talk with Kelly Washington, Desean Jackson, Geoff Pope, Hank Baskett and I caught a ball from Mike Vick, I love pre-game warm up," and later, "Man Im sick of getting hit like that , its the damn preseason shit! 1day I'm gone jump up and start throwing hay makers , #Tylenolplease."
Punishment: $25,000 fine
Company/Employer: NFL's Cincinnati Bengals
Job title: Wide Receiver
The story: The NFL does not allow players to post messages on any social media sites 90 minutes before games and "until postgame media obligations are fulfilled." Ochocinco, who was playing in the pre-season game vs. the Philadelphia Eagles, sent the first tweet at 6:50 p.m., 77 minutes before the 8:07 p.m. game, and the second at 9:53 p.m. After being told of the fine, the wide receiver apologized to the NFL for tweeting during the game, acknowledging "that was 2 months of my Bugatti payments you just took from me." According to Fast Company, each word cost him approximately $500.
Al Behrman
The offending tweet: "Sad to hear of the passing of Sayyed Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah... One of Hezbollah's giants I respect a lot."
Punishment: Fired
Company/Employer: CNN
Former job title: Senior Editor of Mideast Affairs
The story: Octavia Nasr was fired from her job as CNN's Senior Editor of Mideast affairs for tweeting her concerns over the death of Lebanese cleric Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah. CNN's International’s senior vice president for newsgathering, Parisa Khosravi, said the tweet had compromised her credibility. In a blog post, Nasr later expressed "deep regret" in explaining her motives for the tweet, writing, "It was an error of judgment for me to write such a simplistic comment and I'm sorry because it conveyed that I supported Fadlallah's life's work. That's not the case at all."
CNN
The offending tweet: "Congrats to all the dirty mexicans in San Antonio."
Punishment: Fired
Company/Employer: Radio station "The Ticket" KTCK-AM (1310)
Former job title: Producer
The story: Mike Bacsik, a former major league baseball pitcher, was fired for congratulating San Antonio's "dirty mexicans" following the San Antonio Spurs win over the Dallas Mavericks in Game 5 of the 2010 NBA Playoffs. Bacsik later apologized for the "horribly insensitive" tweet, telling ESPNDallas.com, "It was very bad and stupid on my part."
Jeff Chiu / AP Photo
The offending tweet: "Tues: Jane Adams, star of HBO series "Hung," skipped out on a $13.44 check. Her agent called and payed the following day. NO TIP!!!"
Punishment: Fired
Company/Employer: Barney Greengrass Restaurant, Beverly Hills, CA
Former job title: Waiter
The story: Jon-Barrett Ingels was fired from the restaurant after tweeting about the dining habits of a number of celebrities. The Jane Adams tweet may have been the one that got him canned. As the story goes, Adams returned to the Barney Greengrass about a month later with the missing $3 tip. When she forked it over, Ingels explained she “didn't have to do this," but Adams explained she had seen the tweet. Soon after, according to Brand X, “The manager reviewed a printout of Ingels' tweets in front of the defeated waiter, and said he was being fired due to various complaints.”
AP Photos
The offending tweet(s): "I do so hope Bindi Irwin gets laid," and "Rove and Tasma look so cute...hope she doesn't die too," and "Kdlang gets a standing ovation but will she get fingerbanged in the carpark."
Punishment: Fired
Company/Employer: The Age
Former job title: Columnist
The story: Australian comedian Catherine Deveny was fired from her job as a columnist with The Age after a series of tweets sent from her couch commentating on the TV Week Logie Awards, an Australian TV awards ceremony. Deveny was hardly apologetic, saying her tweets were taken out of context as she was "sacked for swearing on Twitter and telling grown-up jokes."
The offending tweet: "1 play in the 1st Half, 4 plays in the 2nd half,.... A bit disappointed about my playing time but very happy and satisfied about the win."
Punishment: Benched one week
Company/Employer: New York Jets
Job title: Wide Receiver
The story: Unhappy with his playing time in a win over the New England Patriots, New York Jets' Wide Receiver David Clowney took to Twitter to write he was "a bit disappointed about my playing time." When Jets coach Rex Ryan saw the tweet, he decided to bench the player for the following week's game. In explaining the move, Ryan said he was "not a big Twitter guy," but that the team comes first. "No individual is bigger than the team. So if I feel a guy is not putting the team first, then I'll make the decision to put the guy down."
Lynne Sladky / AP Photo
The offending tweet: n/a
Punishment: Fired
Company/Employer: A non-profit organization
Job title: Part-time office worker
The story: A 37-year-old pseudonymous blogger was fired from her job at a nonprofit organization by her boss who, after googling her name, came upon a twitter profile linking his employee to the sex blog, The Beautiful Kind. The blogger blamed the discovery on a "Twitter glitch" that kept her real name tied to the blog's profile in a cached search. In explaining the firing, her boss wrote, "When it comes to private matters, such as one's sexual explorations and preferences, our employees must keep their affairs private."
The offending tweet(s): "@JamesOKeefeIII a) you are not a journalist b) the truth is you intended to tap her phones c) it’s a felony d) you will go to prison," "Highly amusing to see teabaggers claim Brown a referendum on Obama...when Brown himself denied it and distanced himself from teabaggers," and, "For all who object to the term 'teabaggers,' please direct your frustrations to Griff Jenkins at Fox News. He came up with it."
Punishment: Allegedly banished from tweeting. His last was on July 22, 2010.
Company/Employer: MSNBC
Job title: Anchor
The story: After a series of off-the-cuff tweets targeted at filmmaker James O'Keefe and "teabaggers," MSNBC management deemed Shuster's comments "inappropriate" and had a talk with the anchor. Since then, he's been overwhelmingly quiet, tweeting once on his birthday to simultaneously thank his fans and send Joe Scarborough a shout-out.
MSNBC
The offending tweet: "Like story of a certain dead intern. RT @JoeNBC: Luckily for the White House, the media has been negligent on this story since Day 1," which was followed by, "I've never suggested you're a murderer. I've noted media hypocrisy in going after Gary Condit. But he was Dem. You aren't."
Punishment: Blacklisted from MSNBC
Company Involved: MSNBC
Job title: Guest
The story: Dailykos.com founder Markos Moulitsas and MSNBC's Joe Scarborough had themselves a Twitter spat, in which Markos accused Scarborough of negligence in underreporting the death of his one-time Congressional staffer. It ended with MSNBC President Phil Griffin emailing Moulitsas, "After I became aware of the ugly cheap shot you took at Joe on Twitter, I asked the teams to take a break from booking you on our shows for a while." In response, Moulitsas noted TV is not his favorite medium. "I'm often uncomfortable," he wrote, "and part of me would be grateful if I never had to do a TV spot again."
J. Kamp / AP Photo
The offending tweet: "wwd. someone who will NEVER grace your pages the felonious Dawn/Boudoir Queen witnessed stealing 2 MASSIVE army bags out of the chat at 4am"
Punishment: Sued for libel
Company: n/a
Job title: n/a
The story: The fashion designer Dawn Simorangkir, whose fashion line is named Boudoir Queen, sued Courtney Love for libel in March 2009 after the singer posted "menacing and disturbing" statements about Simorangkir on Love's Twitter account. Apparently, Love was angry with the designer’s refusal to work with her anymore following an unpaid $4,000 bill. According to JD Supra, the case is notable as it involves “the first known lawsuit over Twitter libel.”
Theo Wargo / Getty Images
The offending tweet: "@jaredlaunis think bout a clever diss then that wit ur fag pic. Christopher street boy. Is what us east coast cats call u."
Punishment: One-game suspension, loss of approx. $213,000 - $600,000
Company: Kansas City Chiefs
Job title: Running Back
The story: Following an October 2009 loss to the NFL's San Diego Chargers, then-Kansas City Chiefs running back Larry Johnson responded to a Twitter user in a tweet including the gay slurs "fag" and "christopher street boy." He issued two formal apologies and was suspended from the team for the following week's game.
Jamie Squire / Getty Images
The offending tweet: "Big news coming out of Senate: Apparently one dem is either switching or leaving the dem caucus. Negotiations for power sharing underway."
Punishment: Losing Republican control of the VA Senate
Company: Virginia State legislature and Republican Party
Job title: Chairman, Virginia Republican Party
The story: Virginia State Senator Ralph Northam (D) had nearly finalized a secret agreement to switch sides and caucus with the Republicans when Jeff Frederick, then chair of the state's Republican Party, tweeted the details. Democrats rallied, Northam was summoned, and the deal was eventually called off.
Steve Helber / AP Photo
The offending tweet(s): According to the Scottish Sun, "he branded House of Commons speaker John Bercow a "t***", Tory chief David Cameron a "t***" and Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg "a b******." He called Labour MP Diane Abbot a "f****** idiot," elderly voters "bloody coffin dodgers" and patrons of a pub "depressed teuchters." Additionally, MacLennan said Nick Clegg can "f*** right off if he things he's in the same league as Brown and Cameron," said "You've got to be f****** kidding me" in regards to President Obama's Nobel Peace prize, and called an X Factor judge a "c***."
Punishment: Dropped as a candidate for the Labour party for Moray in Scotland.
Company/Employer: U.K. Labour Party
Job title: Candidate
The story: Stuart MacLennan, 24, was once a young star of the Scottish Labour Party, before a spectacular series of insulting tweets were discovered by the British press. The incident was deemed a "Twitter suicide," in reference to the politician's career-ending use of the microblogging service. In an earlier tweet that seemed to predict his downfall, MacLennan asked of a Tory blogger's comments, "Iain Dale reckons the biggest gaffes will likely be made by candidates on Twitter -- what are the odds it'll be me?"
Neil Hanna / TSPL / Camera Press / Retna Ltd.
The offending tweet: "how do they not call a tech on JR Smith for coming off the bench to taunt our player on the ground ?," and "scary part of that play: Same crew chief from game in Denver where they missed call - last play of the game & 1st JRSmith/Wright issue."
Punishment: Fined $25,000 by the NBA
Company/Employer: NBA, Dallas Mavericks
Job title: Owner
The story: Mavericks owner Mark Cuban was fined $25,000 for tweeting his disappointment with officials during a game against the Denver Nuggets in March 2009. After learning of the fines, he later tweeted, "can't say no one makes money from twitter now. the nba does." Zing!
Tony Dejak / AP Photo
The offending tweet: "Schedule regular medical exams like everyone else instead of paying UMC employees over time to do it when clinics are usually closed."
Punishment: Fired
Company/Employer: University of Mississippi Medical Center's School of Nursing
Job title: Administrative Assistant
The story: Jennifer Carter was an assistant at the University of Mississippi School of Nursing when she sent Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour a tweet. Two days later, she had been "tracked down" by the governor's office and encouraged to resign for being in violation of HIPAA patient-privacy laws. Carter had been referring to an incident prior to her employment in which Barbour had allegedly scheduled a private exam during closed hours with a staff of 15 to 20 people who were supposed to be off-duty. In response, Carter told WLBT she was tweeting "to exercise her right to freedom of speech."
AP Photo
