Teachable Moment: Someone’s New Twitter Addiction Is Running Amok
For those in their 30s and 40s, Scott Baio is best remembered for playing Chachie, a wannabe punk, nephew of The Fonz. He was also Charles in Charge, a manny. Today’s generation might best remember him for a three year stint on VH-1 as a reality star and now for his Twitter addiction run amok.
He started tweeting about how his wife calls President Obama a “shitfuck” and other pretty rude things. Gwen Hayes, an aspiring romance author, decided to unfollow him. Charles got upset and compared Obama to Michael Vick (not seeing the connection here) and then when Gwen tried to respond, Chachie engaged in what we shall now call the “chach block” which is the Twitter equivalent of sticking your fingers in your ears and saying “I can’t hear you”.
Things have escalated to the point where Charles in Charge has taken his show about “being the grain” (yeah, I have no idea what that means) to the Glenn Beck radio show.
BAIO: I don’t know which is worse. But and somebody said on the Twitter, why am I going against the grain in terms of my beliefs. And I said, I thought I was the grain. I thought the things that I believed in were the things that this country stood for. And there’s very few things that I truly believe in and
GLENN: Hang on just a wait a minute. I’ve got to go back to that. Why would you go against the grain on what you believe in?
BAIO: No, no. They felt that what I believed was against the grain.
GLENN: Yeah, but what difference does the grain make if you believe in something?
BAIO: Well, I don’t know. And my argument was I thought I was the grain.
GLENN: You are.
I don’t suggest reading the transcript unless you are drunk or high because sober, it makes no sense.
Let me sum up this wtf-ery for you. Charles in Charge is upset that some random person on Twitter unfollowed him and then a few other random people on Twitter told him his actions were stupid. Chachie/Charles claims that his life is great and that he is very very rich and that others are pathetic for wanting to engage with him and then threatens that he will sue people like Hayes for … unfollowing him?
I think Charles needs to wind down. Play some golf. Read a romance. Here’s your teachable moment: If you are ever compared to acting like Charles in Charge, it’s time to take a break from the keyboard. Don’t be a chachbag.
What makes me the maddest is that, since this all began, I have not been able to get the “Charles in Charge” theme song out of my head.
Hi Above-Average Jane,
What fascinates me (excuse me, must pause to don philosophical hat) is that the whole celebrity/”average Jane” dynamic of twitter is flipped upside-down.
We are used to being voyeurs in our favorite celebrities’ and has-beens’ lives. We love those moments when we tweet them directly and those even rarer moments when they tweet us back. We use them for that little rush, the thrill of our brush with (not-so) greatness.
We DON’T expect to be the excuse for or source of their next promo opp. Gwen and Jamie’s twitter jokes gave Chachi the opportunity he needed to get air time. He, in fact, used them–and abused them. Two (also above-)average Janes have given him 1.3 seconds of his 15 minutes of fame back. He should be both thankful and apologetic.
Man, I’m totally with you on this Baio thing and I’m going to let you get back to that in a minute, but first I have to say that the Hoff on the floor with a sammy was the best has-been moment ever. For real.
I am laughing so hard that my coworkers are starting to peek around the corner.
This really upsets me, because I thought I was the grain.
Gwen, I am following you now because these are the kind of crazy @ss stories people can’t make up. Seriously, as much as it must suck for the kid from Zapped to be sending you crazy tweets, this is hysterical.
I’m not sure I’m even able to follow all of this Twitter thing, but Chachie has always been a tool.
I thought he was cute when I was 12, but by the time I was 14, I think I had figured out he was a tool and I pitied poor Joanie for loving him. No, I don’t want Charles in Charge of Me, thanks. I don’t think he should be in charge of anybody frankly. (And damn that theme song!)
I’ll have what he’s having. It’s been a b*tch of a day.
I don’t understand why famous people think they are the only people that can form an opinion.
I guess us stupid poor people should pay more attention when the rich and crazy start spewing and listen up, I mean WE only live in the REAL WORLD.
This just makes me want to Follow-then-Unfollow Scott Baio over and over again. (My fingers are itching to hit the keys.)
Instead I’ll just say Chachi needs a Chill pill.
Does the man have nothing better to do with his life than whine & moan because someone Unfollowed him on Twitter? Seriously?
LMAO Chachbag. Oh man, I can’t stop laughing at that. He really has made himself look like a total ass in these tweets.
I just can’t figure out why his conversation w/Glen Beck looks like it’s in another language. Grammer, huh? WTF was he trying to say? And is he wheat or barley?
@Tricia Fields I think it would be more godly (and helpful) to be a legume than a grain.
Metaphor Fail for $1000, Alex. Next he’s going to make like a tree and get outta there.
A little follow up from the idiom dictionary:
Actual grain as in wheat, barely, whatever has nothing to do with the saying “go against the grain.” ChaChi needs to go back to high school and smack his English teacher for failing him so completely.
@ Cyntia King
Does the man have nothing better to do with his life than whine & moan because someone Unfollowed him on Twitter? Seriously?
I think he mention Golf, with him being very very rich, I do think he can find even more things to do.
He is bat**** crazy did you read where he tries to spin it anc claim that he was being extorted for a Mac Book Air.
I swear the water over there in Holly must be “kickin”
That’s classy Mrs Chachie.
Besides, I’m so confused.
I thought chachi was dead.
Maybe it was just his career.
I love that his Twitter ID is “thescottbaio.” Um, is someone else using his name? If so, why???
Someone should call Uncle Fonzie to set the boy straight.
Has anybody told ol Chachi he’s a Chachbag?
I’m not sure which is worse for Ms. Hayes. Mr. Baio going all chachbag on her or having to admit she was following Scott Baio on Twitter in the first place. ;-)
But seriously…if he does follow through with his bullshit threat to sue Ms. Hayes I will donate to her defense fund! Can you imagine what the transcript of the case would look like?
Judge: So Mr. Baio am I to understand that you a suing Ms. Hayes because she hurt your feelings when she “unfollowed” you on Twitter?
Chachi/chachbag: Yes your honor. She offended all washed up child stars. I’m just trying to regain my lost dignity.
Judge: Mr. Baio…are you on crack?
I just hope they allow cameras in the court room and follow it on Court TV!
@StephS: I don’t think that there is any question that Gwen Hayes feels some secret shame for following Scott Baio. LOL.
Also? Apparently @thescottbaio fell for some Twitter phishing scheme and has abandoned his old account to create a new account called @RealScottBaio and has a prison/kidnapping picture to prove it: http://twitpic.com/lk2vj
and a new not-so-super hero is born. El Bato the Chachbag
He wears high-waisted skinny jeans, a tight muscle shirt, and a cape made from faux-leather (because let’s face it; only the Fonz is allowed the real leather) He leaps to conclusions in a single bound! He threatens romance authors who threaten his manhood! He worships Glenn Beck! He has come to save the day….
Am I alone in noticing he spelt his name ‘Bato’?
In the interest of full disclosure, I should also mention that I still follow John Stamos and Rick Springfield. Clearly, I am in need of intervention.
p.s Rob Lowe still doesn’t Twitter or you’d better believe I’d be all over that like grain.
i used to love Charles in Charge- this totally crushed my image of him. gawd, he’s such an asshat!
I agree with Gwen, I’ve been singing that damn song for the better part of a week now.
How juvenile.
I just saw this Glenn Beck guy for the first time the other day. It does not surprise me that this Baio interview is so incoherent, because I found Glenn Beck incoherent from the fifteen minutes I watched him.
It did scare the hell out of me that Beck has a loyal following of “real” Americans.
And as for “Chachi”, good Lord, his reality show(s) gave me everything I needed to know about this neanderthal. I admit that I watched them because they were both such train wrecks.
Sorry, Scott, most of us are women now and just not into the man you have become.
LOL!
I caught about 10 mins of his reality show once, and oddly enough, I’m not surprised by this at all. Those 10 mins opened my eyes to The Chach.
Chachi is on Twitter? I would think he’d be too busy trying to rebuild his career to waste time tweeting.
@gwen hayes:
Gah! now that song is in my head too. And I never even watched the show!
Oh, you guys are killing me today! Too funny! And don’t feel bad Gwen, I too follow Rick Springfield on twitter. Now he definitely still has a career and therefore I doubt he notices who’s friending or unfriending him.
Not to nitpick, but Gwen is not an “aspiring” author… she’s published, and a wonderful one.
We should all follow him, wait a day, and then unfollow him. :)
This is making me laugh so hard! Everything on this page is hilarious. This is actually only part of the Chachi story, but it’s too long and absurd to even attempt to tell. And this is the funny part anyway…the rest is not so funny. And he still has Jamie on his mind…I guess she’s VERY, VERY important to him.
More of the great attention Scott is garnering for himself: http://www.squidoo.com/douchebagerie
As someone who watched Baio’s reality show on VH1, I should have expected this ridiculousness on Twitter. Because in addition to coming across as a curmudgeon who whined about pretty much everything good or bad, he also needed a freaking “life coach” to bring him to terms with being over 40 with a pregnant girlfriend. So when he talks about how important his family is to him, I certainly hope that’s true, especially since IMO it wasn’t so long ago that he publicly treated his now-wife and mother of his child, as well as the very ideas of marriage and children, with a good deal of disdain and disrespect.
@whyinthehell:
He loves the attention.
http://baiowatch.webs.com/apps/blog/
Wait…..Rick Springfield is on Twitter?! How did I miss that?
Seriously, did not know that. As for the other dumbass, being a celebrity “conservative” is all the rage. Look at all the exposure he’s gotten just from that. Whatev.
Attention whore media seeker. Hollywood must have the crazies because we are looking at him right now!
Am I the only one who remembers that Chachi was Fonzie’s cousin, not his nephew?
Details, people. Details.
What can be done, if the various sources for increased energy production do not fully offset the decline in oil and gas production? ,
“I guess us stupid poor people should pay more attention when the rich and crazy start spewing and listen up, I mean WE only live in the REAL WORLD. ”
And yet, all over the world, people in the “real world” follow the left-wing celebrities like they are gods. But when someone who doesn’t agree with the left side of the fence makes his opinions known (no matter how he does it), he is villified.
Does anyone not see the double standard here? Celebrities like Matt Damon, Tom Cruise, and numerous others can speak out in favor of Democrats and liberals, and people are rah, rah, rah, BUT when another celebrity (no matter how big or small) voices a differing opinion (God forbid that it be a conservative one), it’s time to stone them!!!!
I’m not saying I agree with Scott Baio’s thoughts or opinions, but I am getting a little sick and tired of no one being allowed to state their opinion unless it agrees with the left-wing liberals. Because, if anyone disagrees with the liberals, they are stupid, a tool, and are in dire need of help…right?
@Katie W.:
I don’t think anyone here thinks he’s a tool for not being a liberal. I’m not a liberal. I don’t always agree with the president–but I didn’t like Mr. Baio’s negativity, so I exercised my right to unfollow him rather than expect him to change the way he tweets to impress me. And then he went crazy on me.
And he libeled me.
And then he used me as a platform to disparage all liberals, even though I am not one. I was just a girl who doesn’t think calling the president a shitfuck is appropriate, whether or not I voted for him. And I am a girl who is a firm believer in–if you don’t like it change the channel, put down the book, click next, whatever–but don’t think everyone else has to agree with you.
Which is all I did.
As an interesting aside, when Scott Baio got his new shiny account, it came with 40% less crazy. I’m guessing his PR people got a hold of him.
@gwen hayes:
I agree, Gwen, and my comments weren’t directed at you as much as they were at the individuals who feel it’s either the liberal way or the highway. I firmly believe we all have the right to express our opinion and not be labeled as idiots (or any other terminology that comes to mind), regardless of whether or not that opinion is unpopular.
As an unabashed liberal I have no problem shitting on Baio (because he’s one of the loony tune conspiracy conservatives. He’s also a birther for fuck’s sake and one of the people who have never served or helped the military who constantly invokes them to make himself and whatever point look good). As such, I enjoy torturing him and his few fans on Twitter.
@Katie W.: I agree with you, Katie W., in theory. But Scott does not express his conservative views, opinions, racial bias, or hatred for “retarded” liberals (his words) in anything but an inflammatory manner. I’m a hardcore liberal, and I despised the Bush administration. But if any liberal public personality (i.e., celebrity) went on twitter and publicly made the types of remarks that Scott does, about the President and conservatives in general, I would have a serious issue with that as well.
Scott also likes to tweet photos such as these: http://twitpic.com/lw2wv and http://twitpic.com/m22p3
We’re not talking about an ordinary citizen here – we’re talking about a public personality who is trying to raise money for a charity, and has a stronger influence over his followers because they want to please him in order to get his attention. He rather explosively and obscenely makes remarks about the President and about liberals in general (and he’s shown some special dislike for people who have “Hussein” in their name).
Scott has an affinity for attacking ordinary people, publicly on his twitter page, and asking his followers to Retweet those attacks…which they do, because they are trying to please him. Scott does this despite having blocked those of us whom he attacks, so we are afforded no avenue for discussion nor defense. He ‘hits and runs’. The reason we learn of his attacks is via the Retweets his followers so kindly do…while they themselves proceed to attack us, based on his false accusations.
Scott blatantly tweeted utterly false accusations about me, Gwen, DaysWithDave, and another person – and he asked his followers to Retweet the accusations. Again, he had us blocked so we had no avenue for discussion nor defense. Some of the false accusations are not minor – others may speak for themselves, but the accusations towards me are libelous and are related to extortion and intent to harm. I take those kinds of things very seriously. In addition to receiving the Retweets of Scott’s attacks, his followers also attack us, believing the accusations to be true.
(I’m hoping this sort of train wreck can be followed…it’s a little convoluted. I’ll answer any questions this might raise if you wish.)
To go back to your position, Katie W., there just aren’t very many liberal public personalities who do this sort of thing in a public forum…it’s not the way liberals are, in general. Just look at what the Democratic “majority” in congress is doing – they really don’t even come close to ‘fighting back’ in the attacking manner that the Republicans have (August and HCR is a prime example). I read a great quote recently (paraphrasing somewhat): “when conservatives get mad, they fight; when Liberals get mad, they blog”. Granted, there are many hardcore liberals on twitter, but we’re not in the public eye and no one cares about our individual opinions (hopefully our opinions as a group matter, though!). Being a public personality puts an entirely different filter on the picture.
The thing was is that Scott Baio expressed himself badly. He didn’t show reason or concern for anybody. It was his own little universe and he has that Hollywood mentality with that”I’m better than you” approach. Pssshh….Some of these celebs are just full of themselves.
Look who the whore is, Cyntia King.