The 25 Most Controversial Tweets of Summer 2011

Not surprisingly, before Memorial Day Weekend hit, 2011 had already been an eventful year for Twitter, with the social networking site being the hub for controversial statements by designers, musicians, and even the digital headquarters for a revolution in Tunisia. This summer, the momentum didn’t slow down at all. Celebrities of all kinds—athletes, rappers, even Tennis journalists—took to Twitter to vent their frustrations, take pop shots at haters and competitors, and share their contrarian points of view, all of which wound up pissing more than a few people off. As the season draws to a close, we thought it to be the perfect time to reflect on just how crazy the past few months have been with the 25 Most Controversial Tweets of Summer 2011. Read on to see how Twitter captured controversial statements regarding the death of Osama Bin Laden, the Casey Anthony trial, artist beef, and more.

By William E. Ketchum III (@WEKetchum)

Date: May 12, 2011

Tweeter: Serena Williams

Tweet: N/A

Description: A picture can speak a thousand words—and the ‘Net was definitely buzzing when tennis legend Serena Williams changed her Twitter profile photo to a picture of her wearing lingerie behind a curtain. The controversy was how it connected to what had happened two weeks earlier, when Williams’ stalker was arrested for attempting to trespass onto her property. Sports journalists and Twitter followers felt the photo was inappropriate because it played on her being “watched.”

Date: August 25, 2011

Tweeter: Chad Ochocinco

Tweet: “@Mason_Foster great hit last night, if u’re fined i’ll reimburse u boss. That’s the way the game should b played. Stay healthy n have a good yr”

Description: Real recognizes real, and Chad Ochocinco thinks that Tampa Bay Bucs rookie Mason Foster looks familiar. When Foster was penalized for an illegal hit in the preseason game between the Pats and the Bucs, Ochocinco took to Twitter to give Foster props on the hit and to offer a reimbursement if he were fined. The NFL fined Foster $20,000 and said that one player paying another’s fine wasn’t allowed.

Date: June 30, 2011

Tweeter: Lil B

Tweet: “CUZ I LOVE YOU IF YOU DONT HAVE 10 DOLLERS TO BUY MY NEW PROJECT HERE IT GOES FOR FREE- Lil B”

Description: Lil B had his share of detractors when he announced that the title of his album was “I’m Gay,” but even the haters had to applaud him for what he did on June 30: he tweeted a free Mediafire link for the album, only a day after the album was released through Amalgam Digital. What’s better is that the album surprisingly got mostly positive reviews. Thank you, basedgod.

Date: July 26, 2011

Tweeter: Gilbert Arenas

Tweet: “My new avi is set up so to all my ladies. Figure out who you are!! haha”

Description: With Android and iPhone taking over, we’re having trouble keeping BBM contacts in the first place. Gilbert Arenas, on the other hand, seems to be doing fine. He organizes the women in his BBM under the following categories: “Best at fellatio,” “Girls I respect,” “Girls who gave it up on the first nite,” and “Girls who like Girls.” Of course, “Girls I respect” only has one contact—likely a relative.

Date: July 27, 2011

Tweeter: 50 Cent

Tweet: "Man I’m not releasing a album i can’t believe interscope is this f*cked up right now. I apologize to all my fans"

Description: After seeing the MC also known as “Interscope Jackson” spend years as teacher’s pet at his label home, it was a bit strange to see 50 tweet complaints about not being able to release his album. He threatened to leak the Dre-produced “Psycho” as well, but didn’t follow through.

Date: August 25, 2011

Tweeter: Kreayshawn (or hacker)

Tweet: Nude Pictures

Description: A day after having a “confrontation” with Rick Ross at the VMAs, the “Gucci Gucci” rapstress had even more issues. A Twitter hacker took control of her page, posted some weird quasi-political rhetoric, and leaked photos of her that she posed for while underage (we're not posting 'em, you sickos can Google 'em). Hopefully, her million-dollar deal with Sony helps comfort her.

RELATED: THE 25 FUNNIEST CELEBRITY TWITTER HACKS

Date: June 9, 2011

Tweeter: Gilbert Arenas

Tweet: “Got hooked up on a blind date..and I guess she was blind when she picked out this outfit..OMG I thought she was the queen of ZAMUNDA”

Description: When hilarious NBA sharpshooter Gilbert Arenas went on a blind date that wasn’t going how he planned, he went to Twitter to share the pain with his followers. He cracked jokes on his date’s shirt for an hour—even sneaking in a twitpic of the shirt—before admitting that he wasn’t getting any action that night. She may lockout the panties, but hopefully the NBA lockout ends sooner than later.

Date: August 2, 2011

Tweeter: Mike Dean

Tweet: “we will never invote [sic] anyone from HYPERLINK "http://www.ddotomen.com/" www.ddotomen.com to anything ever. douche recorded listening session?? i hope you feel like a cocksucker"”

Description: The recording process behind Jay-Z and Kanye West’s album Watch The Throne was intensely-guarded—avoiding in-studio sessions, making an Internet-free recording space, using password-protected external hard drives—to prevent leaks. So when blogger DDotOmen recorded music from the listening session and leaked snippets online, Kanye engineer Mike Dean used his Twitter account to defame DDot as much as possible with hopes of blackballing him from future industry events. DDot visited Combat Jack’s radio show to verbally continue the assault.

Date: July 8, 2011

Tweeter: Blake Griffin

Tweet: “You have me confused w/ another athlete(s)”

Description: When a Twitter user gave Blake Griffin props for snatching up Kim Kardashian, the Slam Dunk Contest champion pointed out that he wasn’t the lucky guy. What made the tweet deceptively funny is the “(s)”—implying that not only would that person mistake him for new husband Kris Humphries, but also similarly-complexioned Miles Austin.

Date: July 4, 2011

Tweeter: Drake

Tweet: Damn i just took the beard down and realized I'm still the same age as ya'll boys...447,000 first week off MY flows. See you in the fall.

Description: With the release of Big Sean’s album, media running with Drake’s admittance of getting the “Supa Dupa flow’ from Sean, and a perceived subliminal in his verse on “I’m On One,” the Twitterverse was buzzing as to whether or not Drake was sending a shot in the way of G.O.O.D. Music’s young new star. The buzz died down in coming days though, and a month later, Sean deaded rumors of beef.

Date: June 17, 2011

Tweeter: Chris Brown, Frank Ocean

Tweet: “[I] fucks wit chris brown, reminds me of a young sisqo or ike turner”

Description: It seemed like Chris Brown was giving Frank Ocean a compliment when he tweeted comparisons to James Fauntleroy and Kevin Cossum (two musicians who have worked with Mary J. Blige, Brandy, Rihanna and others), but the Odd Future elder didn’t see it that way. After responding with the above diss, he said “I just don’t like underhanded comments.” What followed was more useless back and forth between both parties. The funniest part of all of this? The Game intervened and stopped the disses.

Date: July 25, 2011

Tweeter: Keri Hilson

Tweet: "Gasp* Amy Winehouse resurrected to party w/ me!!! (seriously, uncanny resemblance)"

Description: While taking a break from Lil Wayne’s “I Am Still Music” tour in New York City, Keri Hilson saw an Amy Winehouse look-a-like and took a photo with her with the above caption. Fans lashed out, still feeling the pain from Amy’s death—she had just passed two days prior. The fallout didn’t get too bad though, as she apologized for seeming insensitive and people moved on.

Date: July 25, 2011

Tweeter: Kurt Sutter

Tweet: “If my mom and dad were alive this Emmy snub would kill them. That's not true, they were too old to understand my show. just like the academy.”

Description: When Kurt Sutter’s predictions of Emmy snubs for his awesome FX show Sons of Anarchy and his wife, the show's lead actress Katey Sagal, became true, he went where any celebrity goes to vent his frustrations: Twitter. After chastising the academy and getting in a few cheap shots about Emmy darling Glee, he joked, “You do know that I’m really okay with no noms right?”

Date: June 6, 2011

Tweeter: Gabrielle Union

Tweet: "during my rape I tried to shoot my rapist, but I missed.”

Description: Rihanna’s music video for “Man Down” was banned on certain networks because of its depiction of Rihanna shooting a man whom had raped her in the video. Actress Gabrielle Union shared with her Twitter followers that she was raped while she was 19 years old and working at a shoe store, and that she tried to shoot her rapist during the crime but missed him. She continued to while the desire to kill a rapist is understandable, that unless it’s self-defense, it only makes things worse.

Date: August 25, 2011

Tweeter: Sean Parker

Tweet: “’We can come to look upon the deaths of our enemies with as much regret as we feel for those of our friends, namely, when we miss their existence as witnesses to our success.’ – Arthur Schopenhauer”

Description: When Steve Jobs publicly stepped down from his longtime post as CEO of Apple, Sean Parker’s above tweet prompted Gawker to question if he was “dancing on Jobs’ professional grave.” The Napster founder and former Facebook president is now an investor and board member at Spotify, an Internet music service that rivals iTunes. Parker confirmed he was speaking about Jobs, but said it was “a gesture of respect for a worthy adversary. Who remains left to challenge us and inspire us when our most powerful enemies move on?”

Date: June 17, 2011

Tweeter: Cee-Lo

Tweet: “I respect your criticism, but be fair! People enjoyed last night! I’m guessing you’re gay? And my masculinity offended you? Well f**k you!”

Description: When a Minneapolis editor critiqued Cee-Lo’s opening performance for Rihanna’s Loud tour as “lackluster” and “gross,” the Goodie Mob frontman recited the key words from his hit single: “Fuck you.” Not before accusing the editor, who is a woman, of being a gay man who was threatened by his masculinity. He later apologized, citing himself as one of the most liberal artists and that two of his co-hosts on The Voice are homosexual (“I have gay friends!”).

Date: August 12, 2011

Tweeter: The Game

Tweet: Yall can track a tweet down but cant solve murders ! Dat was an accident but maybe now yall can actually do yall job !!!! #iSpeak4ThePeople

Description: In what was likely another publicity stunt to promote Game’s new R.E.D. Album, Game’s Twitter account alerted his 500,000-plus followers that he was looking for music interns, then tweeted the number to the Los Angeles sheriff’s department. The department was about to press charges, but decided against it after Game appeared on CNN, where he apologized and insisted that the tweet was from a friend. That wasn’t before he tweeted the above, though. Who’s the more useless diss target: Jay-Z, or the Compton Sheriff?

Date: July 6, 2011

Tweeter: Entenmann’s

Tweet: “Who’s #notguilty about eating all the tasty treats they want?!”

Description: This is similar to Kenneth Cole’s Twitter fail earlier this year, when he used the trending topic about uprise in Egypt to promote his new spring line of clothing. Except that this time around, it seemed like an honest mistake. The person behind the profile of Entanmann’s, a company that makes baked goods, inadvertently used the trending topic of the Casey Anthony trial verdict to show the guilty pleasures of junk food. An apology followed.

Date: August 26, 2011

Tweeter: Paul Shirley

Tweet: “I just recognized JaVale McGee at Benihana. What are the chances that he recognized me, or, knows how to read?””

Description: Paul Shirley is a former NBA player who blogged for ESPN until last year, when he was cut from the freelance team after writing a vitriolic blog that chastised the people of Haiti after the country’s deadly earthquake in 2010. The only thing more insulting than this tweet about Javale McGee last week was the idea that anyone cared about what he had to say.

Date: July 6, 2011

Tweeter: Kim Kardashian

Tweet: “WHAT!!!!???!!!! CASEY ANTHONY FOUND NOT GUILTY!!!! I am speechless!!!”

Description: Had the tweet above been posted by virtually anyone else, it would’ve been standard for most of the country’s reaction to the case that found a baby murdered. Instead, this was Kim Kardashian—the daughter of Robert Kardashian, who was part of the defense team that worked a similar miracle to get OJ Simpson acquitted of murder charges in 1995.

Date: Aug. 25, 2011

Tweeter: Paul Azinger

Tweet: “Facts: Potus has played more golf this month than I have: I have created more jobs this month than he has: #Marthasvineyard"

Description: ESPN golf analyst and 12-time PGA Tour winer Paul Azinger used Twitter to spit ether at President Barack Obama, claiming that he created more jobs and played less golf than the pres that month. The network reminded him that the company’s updated social network policy didn’t allow political commentary. Jackass.

Date: May 2, 2011

Tweeter: Rashard Mendehall

Tweet: “What kind of person celebrates death? It's amazing how people can HATE a man they have never even heard speak. We've only heard one side...We'll never know what really happened. I just have a hard time believing a plane could take a skyscraper down demolition style.”

Description: While much of the United States was celebrating the death of Osama Bin Laden, star Pittsburgh Steelers running back Rashard Mendenhall was questioning the public celebrations over a human being’s death. That may have been acceptable, but fueling government conspiracy theories on a day that many 9/11 victims were finally getting closure could have used better planning. As a result, Mendenhall enraged sports writers and fans everywhere, and he even lost a new four-year endorsement deal with Champion.

Date: June 20, 2011

Tweeter: Roger Ebert

Tweet: Friends don’t let jackasses drink and drive.

Description: Everyone can agree that drinking and manning a vehicle is irresponsible and unsafe, but was it too soon for film critic Roger Ebert to send the seemingly tongue-in-cheek remark above on the same day that Jackass star Ryan Dunn died as a result of driving under the influence? Perez Hilton and Jackass co-star Bam Margera certainly thought so, and they used their respective online mediums to lash back.