(Image source: Kasey Kahne)

BY JIM FLINK

Shut up and drive. That seems to be the chorus critics are shouting at NASCAR’s Kasey Kahne after a Tweet gone sour. Here’s ESPN.

“The NASCAR driver tweeted he was grossed out at seeing a woman breastfeed in a supermarket.  He even used the hashtag #nasty.  Then he also called another woman who disagreed with him a dumb blank.”

Whoa!  Is that Twitter rage? Some people think so. Stock Car Spin says, ‘bad move Kasey.’

“Kahne should have known better. He could have made the situation better by being more polite about this, but he went after a mother verbally, and to me that really hurts his image ... Just despicable.”
 

And a Hampton Roads blogger says, this was doubly bad, because Kasey Kahne is supposed to be in his wheel house with the ladies.

“We here at the Buzz wonder how this might affect Kahne's popularity, if at all.  It's no secret that the ladies love his dream-boat looks, or at least that's how he's marketed.”

Kahne must have wondered the same thing. Opposing Views reports, shortly after his Twitter-burst, he was in full Twitter-reverse.
 

“I apologize. It was in no way my intention to offend any mother who chooses to breastfeed her child, or, for that matter, anyone who supports breast feeding children … after reading your feedback, I now have a better understanding of why my posts upset some of you.”

Ok, so was all that off-track drama really necessary? Guyism doesn’t think so.

“...way too much was made of this … He made a mistake by simply expressing what he saw and commenting on it. Frankly, if I’d never seen the practice before, especially in public, I might respond the same way.”

But Yahoo! says, this is a catch-22 for celebrities -- pushed to be edgy, personable and in touch with the fans -- but not -- too personal.

“It can be a fine line between personal and professional and hopefully this need for an apology doesn't push Kahne too far to the public relations realm on his Twitter account.”