[Blogosphere] I Support Roger Ebert

While some might argue that it was in questionable taste for Roger Ebert to post the following Twitter message after news of Ryan's Death broke out, I still think he was fully entitled to his opinion. And he certainly didn't lack for merit in terms of the core argument here.




Quoting from his blog post:

What did I mean by that? I meant exactly what I wrote. I wasn't calling Ryan Dunn a jackass. In Twitter shorthand, I was referring to his association with 'Jackass.' I thought that was clear. I note that Bam Margera uses the word 'jackass' in the same way in his tweet. [Tuesday p.m.note: Of course there was a double meaning. I was implying that someone who drinks and drives is a jackass. Just as I was when I was drinking.]"

The guy had a history of drunk driving (including run-ins with the law) and with speeding, he posted a Twitter photo of him drinking just hours before his death and his entire career was built around him behaving inappropriately, or like a Jackass, if you will. We didn't even need the toxicology report to figure out that a man driving that fast and eventually driving headlong into trees was under the influence.

And today the news reports confirmed that he was drunk at the time of the incident. Heck, his blood alcohol content was well over twice the legal state limit. And he was driving close to 140mph - go figure.

So was it tactless and inappropriate for him to post that tweet so soon after his death? There's probably merit there. But was he right? Oh most definitely.