Everyone has an opinion on the Jerry Sandusky scandal. In addition, everyone has an opinion of Joe Paterno as it relates to the scandal. Paterno has been an icon at Penn State for more than 60 years, and people need more than one person to blame when something terrible happens. It only makes sense that Paterno — who certainly should have done more to help stop Sandusky — has become one of the fall guys.
While clearly not a part of the majority, some people have defended Paterno. When Penn State announced that Paterno had been fired on Wednesday night, one of those people was Ashton Kutcher. However, he quickly changed his tune when he was bashed by many of his 8 million followers.
“How do you fire Jo Pa? #insult #noclass as a hawkeye fan I find it in poor taste,” Kutcher initially tweeted. It didn’t take him long to feel that an apology was necessary.
“Heard Joe was fired, fully recant previous tweet!” he wrote. “Didn’t have full story. #admitwhenYoumakemistakes.”
Unless Kutcher just returned to the U.S. from a third world country that has no TV, no computers, no radio, and does not allow cell phone use, he had to have known what was going on. He then went on to write, “As an advocate in the fight against child sexual exploitation, I could not be more remorseful for all involved in the Penn St. case.” It almost sounds as though Paterno is the alleged child molester and Kutcher had to do some damage control for defending him.
Kutcher then ended the evening by vowing to stop tweeting until he can “properly manage this feed.” He also said he “feels awful about this error.” Again, it sounds like Ashton defended Sandusky himself and is apologizing for it. While it is not the most popular opinion, you could make an argument that Paterno is taking the fall for mistakes made by a number of people, which makes sense considering he’s the head football coach. However, you have to wonder if Kutcher did know what was going on and had to rescind his opinion simply to conform with the majority.
