Since its launch in March 2006, Twitter has served as a breeding ground for opinion and the ability to spread information quickly across a range of audiences. In previous years, however, Twitter has also become the world’s most accessible background check. Resurfacing one’s tweets, or uncovering previous posts, has become routine in a majority of celebrities’ lives. It is the focal point not only in many memes today, but also news headlines, posing the question of online presence morale.
Recently, tweets from Instagram-favorite “Brother Nature” have resurfaced from 2012, suggesting pro-Nazism, racism and sexism. Kelvin Peña, the person behind the account, apologized in an open letter to his followers and others, asking them to accept his apology, as he was only a young child who knew no better.
To 12-year-old Peña, those tweets may not have meant much. Peña, who is known for his talent as a “deer whisperer,” may be considered a self-proclaimed Instagram personality, as he came to fame through a video he posted of him feeding deer. He had no prior media experience and did not originally intend for the video to go viral. His videos were positively received and gained a fan base. For people to go and bring up his old tweets is considered out of line, as he has no significant pull in any sense of entertainment. He is not a celebrity, he is not running for an office of any kind, and he is not the CEO of any specific company. His apology did seem sincere, as he was, at the time, a new 12-year-old in the Twitter universe for the first time. The era of resurfacing tweets, in some circumstances like Peña’s, is an attack from left-field, and though the thoughts should not have been made or written in the first place, his apology felt genuine.
In terms of someone having a place in the media prior to his tweets resurfacing, James Gunn, screenwriter of “The Guardians of the Galaxy” series, was recently fired for his abhorrent tweets. Tweets that, at the time, Gunn may have believed were harmless included obscenity after obscenity regarding rape, masturbation, pedophilia and more. As Gunn is (was) a prominent and affluent individual, his firing was both appropriate and reactionary. Though resurfacing can be looked as “bringing up the past,” these comments were made when Gunn was approaching the booming film industry.
What is different between Gunn and Peña’s case is that Gunn was working hard at attaining such a competitive goal yet still chose to tweet horrid things, only to forget about them until they would come back to cost him his job. In his apology, he owned up to the vulgarity of his tweets and jokes, yet his tone was more “hear me out, guys,” rather than truly atoning. Because of Gunn’s journey that brought him success, the tweet-based firing deems appropriate, as he had full, cognitive awareness of posting what he did.
In an age where resurfacing tweets may reveal the true beliefs of an individual, it is important to recognize both the public’s reaction and how authentic and from-the-heart the apology was delivered.
Photo from Funny Vines via Youtube
