Def Jam co-founder and longtime entrepreneur Russell Simmons may be a successful businessman, but so far proper Twitter practices have eluded him
By Andrew Gretchko

In August, Simmons came under scrutiny when he leaked a Harriett Tubman sex tape parody on his Twitter account. The Internet found it less than amusing, prompting apologies from Simmons. Now, Simmons has come under fire yet again, this time for confusing his friend and current Israeli President Shimon Peres with the nation’s former leader, Ariel Sharon, who passed away on Saturday.

“R. I..P my friend Ariel Sharon great pleasure working with you .. special occasions, your work to promote tolerance was inspiring,” tweeted Simmons (@UncleRUSH) to his over three million followers, a number of which captured his mistake before he was able to remove it from his timeline. Noting his error, Simmons then tweeted: “On stair master…a little light headed. Confused ariel sharon with longtime friend, shimon peres. sadly sharon promoted war, not peace.”

Sharon, who had been in a coma since 2006 when he suffered a stroke, was known as a strong military leader, drawing praise by many Israeli’s for defending the Jewish state and drawing harsh criticism from Palestinians. To some, he was an Israeli hero; to others, he was a war criminal.

Simmons would later go on to tweet about the work he had done with President Peres during his trip to Israel last year with the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding, a nonprofit organization that works to improve Muslim-Jewish relations and Black-Jewish relations. Still, many on Twitter voiced their opinion about the legacy of Sharon and were upset with Simmons for praising the deceased leader.

While this latest gaffe seems to be less offensive than the far-from-funny parody video, it’s yet another example of the negative aspects of social media.