When staying abreast of the news should NOT be tweeted

NASCAR driver Kasey Kahne thought he was being funny when he saw a woman breastfeeding in public, and decided to make a joke about it via Twitter. Not only that, but he then used his Twitter account to take a woman to task after she criticized him for the original comments. The two lessons here are evident. One, don’t say something that can be taken as so insensitive and juvenile by a mass audience. And two, there is no need to exacerbate the situation by keeping it alive and going after a perfect stranger with profanity. You’re in the public eye, so don’t use your time dishing out a self-imposed shiner.

Kasey Kahne apologizes for slam of breastfeeding mom

By Chad Leistikow, USA TODAY

COURTESY USA TODAY

Kasey Kahne’s transition, at least image-wise, to Hendrick Motorsports is off to a rough start.

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By Jared C. Tilton, Getty Images for NASCAR

The NASCAR Sprint Cup driver has come under fire for expressing apparent disdain Tuesday on Twitter over a breastfeeding mom in a supermarket.

Kahne, on his Facebook page, has since apologized for a series of tweets that stirred instant social-media reaction. Among the tweets was a detailed description of what he saw. One tweet — “One boob put away one boob hanging!! #nasty” — was later removed from his timeline.

He concluded the grocery-store diatribe by saying, “I don’t feel like shopping anymore or eating.”

Kahne, who has more than 101,000 Twitter followers, later blasted user @KnittingRad, whose profile described her as a liberal feminist and a mother of three, for criticizing Kahne’s comments. She had written, “I hope someday you have a kid and someone tells your wife that feeding your child looks nasty.” Kahne replied, “And your a dumb b*tch.”

In his apology Wednesday, Kahne said, “My comments were not directed at the mother’s right to breastfeed. They were just a reaction to the location of that choice, and the fashion in which it was executed on that occasion. I respect the mother’s right to feed her child whenever and wherever she pleases.”

Kahne is set to take over the No. 5 Chevrolet with juggernaut Hendrick Motorsports in 2012, a ride previously manned by Mark Martin. At Hendrick, Kahne will be part of a four-man team that includes Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Kahne drove for Red Bull Racing in 2011 and finished the year strong, including a win at Phoenix International Raceway on Nov. 13. Red Bull shuttered its NASCAR program following the season.

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