Republican Senator Ted Cruz was trending on Twitter overnight for an embarrassing reason: His official Twitter account “liked” an incestuous pornographic video published by a user called “Sexuall Posts” [sic].
“The offensive tweet posted on @tedcruz account earlier has been removed by staff and reported to Twitter,” his spokeswoman Catherine Frazier tweeted, implying that the senator’s account had been compromised.
The offensive tweet posted on @tedcruz account earlier has been removed by staff and reported to Twitter
— Catherine Frazier (@catblackfrazier) September 12, 2017
But the damage was done; in addition to garnering the attention of hundreds of thousands, the tweet didn’t go unnoticed by x-rated sites like Pornhub.
“Um do you need premium membership?? I know a guy,” a spokesperson for the website asked rhetorically, adding: “I found the full video but it’s premium only. DM for user/password.”
Cruz’s former college roommate also chimed in.
Now imagine Ted Cruz is doing this four feet below you in the bottom bunk bed.
Yes, my misery very much appreciates your company.
— Craig Mazin (@clmazin) September 12, 2017
This isn’t the first time Cruz and his team have had to manage this type of crisis. In 2016, he was forced to rip an ad attacking Marco Rubio after it was revealed that an erotic actress was cast in the spot.
“It happened that one of the actresses who was there had a more colorful film history than we were aware,” Cruz told reporters at the time. “We would not have cast her had we known of that history.”
Cruz told reporters on Tuesday that “a staffing issue” was responsible for the “like.”
“It was a staffing issue and it was inadvertent,” the senator said, according to the Washington Post. “It was a mistake.”
Cruz asserted that he himself did not “like” the illicit tweet, but did not go on to name the staffer.
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