Ashton Kutcher, Uber investor, wanders into the dumbest fight of his life

[RandySF]

Uber investor Ashton Kutcher is defending Uber from comments that one of its executives made on Friday, in which the exec casually threatened to launch a smear campaign against a specific journalist who had written negatively about the company. In a series of tweets, Kutcher questioned whether Uber business exec Emil Michael's suggestion that the company hire researchers to dig up dirt on journalists was really a bad idea. "What is so wrong about digging up dirt on shady journalist?" Kutcher tweeted, without noting what was "shady" about the journalist in question.

Kutcher's argument was that everyone is now a public figure thanks to the internet. In particular, he writes that journalists are culpable because some print "half truths as facts" and then leave their subjects to defend themselves as a story spans the globe. "Questioning the source needs to happen... Always!" he writes. Kutcher also noted that he is speaking for himself and not on behalf of Uber.

While Kutcher's point about questioning sources is a fine one, he seems to ignore the fact that Uber's executive is reported to have made a specific threat against one journalist, PandoDaily editor-in-chief Sarah Lacy. And that threat was not made because she was acting "shady," as he writes, but for writing negatively about what she calls Uber's "asshole culture." Kutcher eventually concedes that he's somewhat off the mark, though it's not totally clear where the change of heart comes from. "U r all right and I'm on the wrong side of this ultimately," Kutcher writes. "I just wish journalists were held to the same standards as public figures."

As PandoDaily editor Paul Carr points out, Kutcher's tweets still serve to support Uber even in the face of his changing course. "Of course [Kutcher] backed down, but he did his celeb investor job for Uber — planted the idea that Sarah is 'shady' without facts," he writes on Twitter. It's also a case of Uber wildly missing the point. Lacy, or any other journalist, isn't what Uber should be fighting back against — its target should be the internal culture that has led to all of the bad decisions that keep bringing it negative press.


http://www.theverge.com/2014/11/19/7246987/ashton-kutcher-defends-uber-on-twitter

[merrily]

1. I thought the dumbest fight of his life was over Joe Paterno's dismissal, though Kutcher did

backpedal on his tweet as soon as someone gave him a clue about the accusations against Sandusky. He did backed down on this, too.

At the end of the day, Ashton is a model and an actor first and not a bad businessperson. He's not an expert on everything and he seems to tweet while he's still half a step behind on news that would have given him the full story.

[msongs]

2. aging tv stars ought to form a support group. calling kirk cameron nt