Ryan Dunn, 34, one of many members of the “Jackass” crew, was killed in a car accident at 3 a.m Monday at the intersection of Route 322 and New Street in West Goshen Township, Penn. Zachary Hartwell, a 30 year-old who served as a production assistant fot “Jackass Number Two,” was also killed in the accident.

Dunn posted a photo of himself out drinking at a bar with friends on Sunday evening.

Not long after news of Dunn’s demise was flying across the web, a tweet by movie critic Roger Ebert under the photo Dunn posted went viral. The message read “Friends don’t let jackasses drink and drive.”

This comment began an avalanche of anger from “Jackass” fans and friends of Dunn. Distraught “Jackass” co-star Bam Margera directed a tweet at Ebert, replying, “shut your fat f*cking mouth!”

Shortly after Ebert’s comment had drawn blood on Monday, his Facebook account was suspended. This was likely because “Jackass” fans had reported Ebert’s page as being in violation of Facebook’s terms of use, which include rules against posting items that are “hateful, threatening or obscene.”

Ebert’s page was restored Tuesday.

But the question remains: was Ebert’s comment completely in the wrong?

Death is always hard for those who knew the deceased, but for those that did not, it can be a non-event or a catalyst for pontification.

Ebert is known to be straightforward and honest, and he likely did not intend his comment to be taken as a full-on slight to Dunn and those that cared for him.

Ebert said he had tweeted the comment before he knew Dunn was dead; he maintained it was in response to the photo of Dunn drinking.

In stories posted Tuesday morning, Ebert said it was written that Dunn reportedly drank three light beers and three shots before he drove away from Barnaby’s in West Chester, PA, around closing time. No one said whether or not he had been drinking earlier.

April Margera, mother of co-star Bam Margera and surrogate mom to the entire “Jackass” crew, said in an interview, “[Dunn] drove too fast, and I yelled at him all the time about that.”

April’s comment was a heartfelt comment about a man she cared about as a son.

Ebert’s comment was a logical play on words about the idiocy of potentially driving under the influence.

Those friends and family mourning Dunn do not want to hear about the dangers of an activity they are very familiar with, thanks to the stunts and pranks they’ve witnessed over the years.

Ebert’s comment is solid advice, and no one should be out driving on a highway going at exceptional speeds; this is even more emphatically true for those who have been drinking.

Folks are up in arms about Ebert’s comment because it was taken out of context. Should Ebert have to apologize now? Well, no, he shouldn’t. He didn’t do anything wrong. Should he apologize anyway because of the damage his ill-advised message has caused across the Web? Yes, and he has done so (to some extent) in his online journal.

The real lesson one can learn from all of this is that maybe people shouldn’t be hanging on every little word someone posts on Twitter. Maybe an even bigger message is that all people need to check the time, date and location of a message before lashing out.

This is a situation where there is no correct answer. Everyone is angry or hurting, and two men are dead in a tragic accident. That is it. All we can take away is that drinking and driving is bad, and that message shouldn’t have to be tweeted or repeated to anyone because it is a simple fact.