Ian Poulter complains about airline's treatment of nanny, receives little sympathy after tone-deaf tweets
Ian Poulter may be a Ryder Cup mainstay and one of the world's finest golfers, but he's also prone to popping off on Twitter. Sometimes it's cute, but sometimes it doesn't go over well with anyone who's not a millionaire golfer ... which is an awful lot of people.
Poulter, who's currently playing in the PGA Championship, decided to plan a little family vacation. He booked his fight, but the airline apparently screwed up his plans. Now, celebrities complaining about anything is pretty tiresome, but even by those standards, Poulter began a Friday-morning diatribe with a particularly ill-conceived angle of attack:
Booked 6 business seats for my wife & nanny to fly home & @British_Airways downgrade my nanny so katie has no help for 10 hours with 4 kids.
— Ian Poulter (@IanJamesPoulter) August 8, 2014
TEN HOURS! FOUR KIDS! Sweet heaven, that's like ... 40 kid-hours of work! No mother has ever had to work so hard!
Poulter apparently realized he was running the very real risk of seeming out of touch with the few people on earth who don't fly business class to Europe with nannies in tow, so he added a defense of his wife:
Actually my wife is a real mum, we have the luxury of having some help, as it's difficult to travel with 4 on your own. Lots do it without.
— Ian Poulter (@IanJamesPoulter) August 8, 2014
Don't think you should bring into question Katie's mothering skills. You can bash me like you do already. She is a brilliant mum.
— Ian Poulter (@IanJamesPoulter) August 8, 2014
The car company that apparently took Poulter's family to the airport attempted to come to the rescue, but only made things worse:
@IanJamesPoulter too much with that lot and all the kids pic.twitter.com/a781BgDknz
— AMC Chauffeurs (@alexdeb01) August 8, 2014
Poulter, displaying a touch of realization, turned philosophical:
It looks like I'm being a stuck up nob. But what is wrong with getting what you have paid for. I ordered a steak. Sorry you can have tomato.
— Ian Poulter (@IanJamesPoulter) August 8, 2014
Nothing's wrong with getting what you paid for. Complaining to millions of people about how hard life is for a rich dude who flaunts his mansion and sweet rides in his Twitter avatar? Yeah, that's a little dicier. But wait, Poulter's on that too:
I don't see what the problem is. I work as hard as everyone else to provide the best for my family. So I can share my opinion. #Thankyou
— Ian Poulter (@IanJamesPoulter) August 8, 2014
And, in turn, Poulter's followers shared theirs:
@IanJamesPoulter @British_Airways Thoughts with you at this dark time Ian
— Mark Douglas (@MsiDouglas) August 8, 2014
@IanJamesPoulter That news is just terrible Ian. I hope those 4 kids don't suffer too much like those in Gaza. How awful for the family.
— the brigadier (@thebrigadier1) August 8, 2014
@IanJamesPoulter @British_Airways just lost so much respect for you. Money's gone to your head.
— Maxbp (@MBPmufc) August 8, 2014
@IanJamesPoulter @British_Airways Sell your car collection and buy your own jet? Problem solved.
— Ben Carter (@Doubting_Ben) August 8, 2014
You get the idea.
At least NoNannyGate hasn't yet affected Poulter's golf game. He started Friday just three strokes off the lead at Valhalla Golf Club in Lousville. Not a thing to complain about on that score ... yet.
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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or find him on Facebook or on Twitter.
