- The Washington Times - Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Hollywood’s Ashton Kutcher rose to the defense Wednesday of Uber executive Emil Michael, who suggested spending $1 million to look into the background of journalists who wrote critically of the ride-sharing app firm.

Mr. Kutcher, during a series of tweets, asked, “What is so wrong about digging up dirt on shady journalist[s]?”

He then followed with another Twitter post: “So as long as journalists are interested and willing to print half truths as facts. … Yes we should question the source.”

Mr. Kutcher has invested in several tech companies, including Uber, Spotify and Airbnb, The Hill reported.

Earlier this week, Mr. Michael said it would be a worthwhile venture to spend “a million dollars” on researchers to pry into journalists’ “personal lives [and] families,” BuzzFeed reported.

He has since apologized for the statement, while CEO Travis Kalanick said the remarks were “terrible and do not represent the company,” The Hill reported.

• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.

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