Top 11 Most Cringeworthy Celebrity Tweets of 2011

Dec. 13, 2011 — -- intro: Twitter has proved itself to be a powerful social media tool for celebrities, allowing them to promote their newest projects and connect with fans much more intimately than ever before. Some, like Kim Kardashian, even get paid to promote products to their huge followings. But what Twitter can giveth, Twitter can taketh away, and many celebrities this year experienced the ugly side of Twitter when they posted insensitive, offensive and just plain dumb tweets. Here is a breakdown of the top 11 cringe-worthy, career-destroying and scandal-making tweets from 2011.

quicklist: 1media: title: Anthony Weiner @RepWeiner text: By far the most alarming and destructive tweet sent in 2011 was by former New York Rep. Anthony Weiner. The tweet was a mere 24 characters -- a link to an illicit picture -- but it was enough to bring down the congressman and destroy the political career of a man who once hoped to be mayor of New York City.

After the link -- which was to a picture of a photo of a bulge in men's underwear -- appeared on the Weiner's Twitter feed, the congressman initially claimed the prank was the work of a hacker, and said so in a round of contentious and awkward interviews in the week following the incident. But after more incriminating photos of the congressman surfaced, Weiner announced his resignation, saying, "I had hoped to be able to continue the work that the citizens of my district elected me to do [but] the distraction that I have created has made that impossible."

quicklist: 2media: 14272141title: Ashton Kutcher @aplusk text: "How do you fire Jo Pa? #insult #noclass as a hawkeye fan I find it in poor taste,"

Ashton Kutcher reacted in disgust after Penn State fired long-time football coach Joe Paterno in November. But Kutcher, who has one of the most-followed Twitter accounts in the country, seemed to be the only American who didn't know that Paterno was fired following a massive sex abuse scandal involving former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky.

Kutcher apologized for the uninformed tweet, claiming he read a headline and didn't know the context of Paterno's termination. "I quickly retracted and deleted my previous post, however that didn't seem enough to satisfy people's outrage at my misinformed post. I truly am sorry if I offended anyone and moreover am going to take action to ensure that it doesn't happen again," he wrote on his blog. Kutcher has also handed off his Twitter account to a management company to make sure he doesn't make any more damaging gaffes.

quicklist: 3media: title: Gilbert Gottfried @RealGilbert text: "Japan is really advanced. They don't go to the beach. The beach comes to them."

Gilbert Gottfried, the duck-voiced spokesman for Aflac insurance, was sacked after he tweeted several insensitive jokes in response to the Japanese tsunami, including "What does every Japanese person have in their apartment? Flood lights."

The comedian received negative feedback throughout the weekend, but he just kept on going. "Japan called me," he tweeted. "They said 'maybe those jokes are a hit in the U.S., but over here, they're all sinking." Aflac, which calls itself the No. 1 insurance company in Japan, was not amused. Gottfried deleted the jokes but not before Aflac had fired him.

"I was born without a censor button," he later said in a statement. "My mouth and now email will continue to get me into trouble."