Commenting on topics outside your field of expertise can get you in trouble. Just ask Rob Lowe or Joe Biden or Mark Wahlberg. On second thought, maybe you shouldn’t.
*Actor Rob Lowe, speculating about the future of injured Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning, Wednesday on Twitter:
“Hearing my fave, #18 Peyton Manning will not return to #NFL. Wow. #Colts”; and, to broadcaster Rich Eisen of the NFL Network, “@richeisen My people are saying Manning will retire today. What do you hear? #NFL”
Lowe, a self-professed die-hard Colts fan, stirred up the Twittersphere and prompted denials of Manning’s retirement, including one from Manning’s father, Archie. But in fairness, if Manning does retire this offseason, Lowe broke the news first.
*Vice President Joe Biden, speaking at a political fundraiser in San Francisco on Wednesday, according to a White House pool report:
“… the Giants are on their way to the Super Bowl.”
Sure, the New York Giants might make it to the biggest football game of the year. One problem — San Francisco’s Giants play baseball.
Make that two problems: To get to the Super Bowl, New York would have to beat the 49ers. The San Francisco 49ers.
*Apparently they’d learned nothing from country singer Hank Williams Jr.’s thoughts on President Barack Obama playing golf with House Speaker John Boehner:
“That would be like Hitler playing golf with (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu.”
Williams’ comments on the Fox News Channel last October ultimately cost him his job as the signature voice of ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” opening theme.
*And then there was actor Ashton Kutcher weighing in via Twitter on Joe Paterno’s ouster as the head football coach at Penn State University in November:
“How do you fire Jo Pa? #insult #noclass as a hawkeye fan I find it in poor taste.”
The Iowa native later said he hadn’t heard of the sexual assault charges against former Paterno assistant Jerry Sandusky or accusations that Paterno had failed to stop the crimes Sandusky is charged with committing.
*But, it’s not always sports topics that trip up celebs. Actor/director Mark Wahlberg was scheduled to be on one of the planes that crashed into the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, a topic he discussed in next month’s issue of Men’s Journal:
“If I was on that plane with my kids, it wouldn’t have went down like it did. There would have been a lot of blood in that first-class cabin and then me saying, ‘OK, we’re going to land somewhere safely, don’t worry.'”
Amid outrage from the families of 9/11 victims, Wahlberg apologized Wednesday.
*And Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who dropped out of the race for the Republican presidential nomination Thursday, made a few gaffes along the way. Including this one before entering the race last year:
“Juarez is reported to be the most dangerous city in America.”
Juarez is in Mexico, just across the border from Perry’s home state. In this example, geography is clearly not Perry’s field of expertise.
