Politicians and Porn: 10 Great Internet Fails
By a miracle cast down from some X-rated version of heaven, this week’s most talked-about political story has absolutely nothing to do with Donald Trump. Instead, the Internet’s attention has been focused on the delicious news that Ted Cruz’s Twitter account liked some porn. It happened Monday night, and the Cruz camp quickly spun the situation as far away from their boss as possible. They rescinded the like and contacted Twitter. They pinned it on one of the multiple staffers who allegedly have access to the account. Cruz, they insisted, had nothing to do with it. All of these things could be true, but it’s also true that if a politician of Cruz’s stature gets caught ogling threesome stepmom porn called “Dick For Two,” there is a 100 percent chance he’s going to find some way to deny it. Though we’ll probably never know the truth, the Ted Cruz porn train has left the station for good, and for this, Twitter, we thank you.
Of course, Cruz isn’t the first political figure to find himself tangled up in online pornography. When the hair-trigger immediacy of Twitter was introduced to the sex scandal-laden world of politics, it was inevitable that a porn habit or two would find their way into the light of the Internet. We’re able to enjoy these mini-scandals so thoroughly because there is no real victim other than the politician’s image, which they have spent their entire adult lives fastidiously maintaining. Even sweeter is when the porn-watching politician has used their position to dictate how others should lead their sex lives. The embarrassment of being caught indulging in the very thing they forbid is enough to redirect the blood from their private parts to their face faster than a smartphone can snap a photo. And no matter if they actually did it or if it was, in fact, a hacker trying to put an end to their careers, we will never get tired of that bright-red look.
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Ted Cruz, Senator From Texas
Image Credit: Sean Rayford/Getty Regardless of whether Ted Cruz likes stepmom porn, the fiasco forced the senator to go on CNN to explain himself, blaming a staffer. Though Cruz has been an opponent of LGBT rights, argued against masturbation and restricted general sexual freedoms, he tried to save face Wednesday by saying that “consenting adults should be able to do whatever they want in their bedrooms.” The interview also featured Dana Bash asking Cruz multiple questions about his stance toward sex toys. Again, this has all been very satisfying.
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Rob Wilson, Former British Member of Parliament
Image Credit: Geoffrey Swaine/REX/Shutterstock In 2013, conservative British politician Rob Wilson tweeted a link to an interview with a work and pensions secretary. The only problem was that the link was not to the interview, but to sexydigg.com, the Ultimate Adult Site Guide. Britain’s Conservative Campaign Headquarters claimed they mistakenly sent Wilson the link, which he then tweeted. “It appears there was a technical glitch,” the CCHQ told Metro.
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Michael Bennett, Former Florida State Senator
Image Credit: Chris O'Meara/AP Florida State senator Michael Bennett was a little bored during a 2010 vote for a measure that would require women to pay for an ultrasound to view the fetus before aborting it. A camera caught the Republican checking out a pornographic image on his computer, which Bennett later claimed was part of an email from a woman “who happens to be a former court administrator.” Bennett did argue against the bill, although it ultimately passed.
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Anthony Scaramucci, Former White House Communications Director
Image Credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Anthony Scaramucci’s followed a popular porn star on Twitter. This is a fact. Also a fact is that the Mooch follows around 200,000 people on Twitter, so there’s a good chance when he followed Blake Mitchell, he didn’t realize Blake Mitchell was a gay porn star with a thing for Superman.
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Anthony Weiner, Former Congressman
Image Credit: Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Including Anthony Weiner on a list of politicians who have been caught liking adult film stars on Twitter is like sending Babe Ruth up to bat in a tee-ball game. Not only did Weiner post a lewd image of himself to the social network, he communicated directly with both a future porn star, Sydney Leathers, and a former porn star, Ginger Lee. Earlier this year, Weiner pleaded guilty to obscenity charges for exchanging sexually explicit messages with a 15-year-old. (He is currently trying to stay out of jail.) For more, watch the entire documentary that was made about Weiner’s sexually explicit travails.
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Steve Bellone, Suffolk County, Long Island County Executive
Image Credit: Chance Yeh/Getty In early 2014, a woman who had written anonymously for XO Jane about how she paid her tuition at Duke University with earnings from porn was outed. After incessant harassment, she wrote another column for XO Jane under her stage name, Belle Knox, and developed an online following. Later that year, Suffolk County, Long Island politician Steve Bellone followed Knox on Twitter. The married father of three vehemently denied having any knowledge of his account’s activity, blaming the follow on a hacker and going so far as to tell the New York Post that “law-enforcement authorities have been notified.”
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Karl McCartney, Former British Member of Parliament
Image Credit: Andrew Redington/R&A/R&A via Getty In 2014, British politician Karl McCartney favorited a tweet featuring an image of a woman tied to a bed, naked except for thigh-high rubber boots. To explain himself, he pulled out the most common card in the Twitter slip-up rolodex: he was hacked. “Followers know I tweet or retweet & don’t use fav button,” he explained. “Thx to all who notified me.”
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Mike Webb, Former Congressional Candidate
Any politician caught looking at porn needs an excuse, and in 2016 Virginia congressional candidate Mike Webb delivered an all-timer after he posted a desktop screenshot that happened to include a couple of X-rated browser tabs. Why was Webb looking at sites titled “IVONE SEXY AMATEUR” and “LAYLA RIVER TIGHT BOOTY”? In a Facebook post that has since been deleted, Webb wrote a convoluted explanation detailing how he was performing an “empirical inquiry” to see if his computer would be infected with viruses created by an “evil operator” looking to ensnare “Christian candidates” for federal office. He did not make it past the primary.
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Brad Dayspring, Former Aide to Eric Cantor
Image Credit: Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call/Getty In 2011, we learned that then-House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s communications director Brad Dayspring followed a Twitter account called SexyTwitPics. His reasoning was that he had a model friend who asked him to follow the account. This is a pretty benign political infraction, but considering Dayspring is a communications director whose savvy had just been touted in the New York Times, you’d think he’d keep a little tighter watch over which accounts he follows.
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Simon Danczuk, Former British Member of Parliament
Image Credit: (Rex Features/AP Danczuk came up with the clever excuse of a faulty phone charger causing his iPhone to “jump about” when it was discovered he favorited an erotic Twitter account. “Before I knew it, and unbeknown to me, I had favorited a tweet which related to this porn site image,” he explained. But Danczuk would later redeem himself when he went on a radio show and admitted to watching porn. “I think we should not be too sanctimonious about this,” he said. His wife even backed him up, tweeting that “if you’re not watching it yourself you really need to.” Bravo, Danczuk family. Bravo.