Late Night: Stars read mean tweets about themselves on 'Jimmy Kimmel'

By Meredith Blake

July 25, 2012 12 AM PT

As everyone knows, part of the Faustian bargain of fame is that, in exchange for extreme wealth and adoration, celebrities also have to deal with haters. Sure, you get paid ridiculous sums of money, get lots of free stuff and date other attractive people, but you also have to put up with the vitriol. That’s why so many famous folks surround themselves with an entourage of sycophants: to shield them from the nastiness.

However on Tuesday night, Jimmy Kimmel subjected a few of his celebrity guests to the full wrath of the Internet. The purported idea of the segment was to teach the public that celebrities have feelings too -- “What you don’t’ see when you send a nasty tweet is it can actually cause pain,” Kimmel explained – but what it really did was allow stars like Zooey Deschanel, Katy Perry and Snooki to show their self-deprecating sides.

Although some of the mean tweets were uninspired (“Matt LeBlanc looks so old”), others showed a certain flair that, perhaps, made it easier for the celebrities in question to tolerate (e.g. “I liked Kristen Stewart more when she was a boy,” and “Dear god, give us back 2Pac and we’ll give you Justin Bieber.”)

Backhandedly, the very funny segment -- and especially the look of devastation on the Beeb’s face after reading the above tweet -- probably did more to encourage further celebrity abuse via Twitter. Sometimes it’s nice being a mere mortal, isn’t it?

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Follow Meredith Blake on Twitter @MeredithBlake