WEDNESDAY, JUNE 1, 2011
GROIN AND BARE IT
Rep. Weiner admits lewd photo might be of him
BY CARMEL MELOUNEY
Does Rep. Anthony recognize his own, um, Weiner?
In a shocking admission, New York Congressman Anthony Weiner came out today to state he “cannot say with certitude” whether the photo of a man in gray underpants that was posted to his Twitter account last Friday is him.
The congressman also wouldn’t say whether he took the lewd picture, but he did deny that he ever sent the infamous image to Gennette Nicole Cordova, the 21-year-old Seattle-area journalism student who received the photo.
“I didn’t send that picture out,” Weiner told NBC News.
“That’s not a picture of you?” the NBC reporter asked.
“You know, I can’t say with certitude.”
Weiner reiterated that his account was “hacked.”
“Pictures can be manipulated, dropped in and inserted,” he said. “One reason I asked a firm to look at what the heck happened here … is to see maybe something was manipulated, maybe something was dropped in.”
“We don’t know for sure what happened here. But let’s try to take a step back. This is a circumstance where someone committed a prank on the Internet, spoofed me, made fun of me, whatever. We’re taking it seriously inasmuch as we want to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
On Monday, Weiner’s office announced he had retained an attorney. But neither Weiner nor his spokesman would say what exactly the attorney had been employed to do, and whether the congressman had asked law enforcement officials to investigate.
Today, Weiner met with individual reporters in Washington, D.C., to confront the scandal, following a vague and combative press conference yesterday where he refused to answer questions about the photo.
“Look, here’s the decision that I’ve made, and you can disagree with it, that after 2½ days of various statements that answer these questions, that I’m not going to keep drilling into further details and further details, even one, even the easy questions — hear me out, hear me out — even the easy questions, even the obvious questions, even the ones that I’ve answered before, because I don’t believe in the idea that you believe in, that, ‘Oh, well, this’ll end it,’ ” he said in a rambling address yesterday.
Hours later, a Tennessee porn actress named Ginger Lee confirmed that she had received a private Twitter message from the embattled lawmaker on March 13. She tweeted: “You know it’s a good day when you wake up to a DM from @RepWeiner. (I’m a fangirl, y’all, he’s my trifecta of win.)”
Lee has refused to reveal what the private message was about, and won’t say whether she and Weiner have had other private communications or exchanged photos of any kind.
In an email to The Daily Caller, Lee said, “I haven’t met Rep Weiner. I follow him on Twitter because I support him & what he stands for. I have been hounded by his political opponents but that hasn’t changed my view of him and what he fights for.”
Today, she tweeted, “I’ve already made a statement, I have nothing else to say to the press.”
Weiner follows only a select 198 of his nearly 49,000 Twitter fans.
Last year, the congressman, known on Capitol Hill as a bachelor playboy, married Huma Abedin, an aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
PBS’ new app-for-kids might help get you on your way to canceling that expensive cable bill.
“NOT FOR POSTING — OFF THE RECORD”
That’s the headline on an email Nikki Finke sent to Media Bistro’s Pandora Young, who wrote a routine item about the resignation of one of Deadline’s reporters in London, Tim Adler. Finke was furious, and has been waging an email war with Young. Flash got ‘em:
It turns out Finke had blitzed Young with all-caps emails, copied to five other journalists, headlined, “NOT FOR POSTING — OFF THE RECORD.”
Finke screamed in an all-capitals headline: “Pandora, what you did here was slimy even for someone with no serious journalism training like you … This character assassination of me by you is completely false … You contacted me and never asked me about this which shows a reckless disregard for the truth. I demand an immediate apology and for you to take down from the Internet this untrue nonsense immediately.”
Next Wave with Gary Vaynerchuk: 'Smart' Shopping
Gary V. breaks down Google Wallet — the latest move to combine the smartphone and credit card markets. He thinks the new technology will change the way consumers do business forever. —Video by Alvin Patrick and Cat LoBuono
Elvis’ favorite sandwich was a fried hero filled with margarine, bacon, jelly and peanut butter. What’s YOUR most gluttonous sandwich concoction?
New report: 13% of online adults use Twitter
13% of online adults use the status update service Twitter, which represents a significant increase from the 8% of online adults who identified themselves as Twitter users in November 2010. 95% of Twitter users own a mobile phone, and half of these users access the service on their handheld device.
As in our previous research on Twitter use, African Americans and Latinos continue to have high rates of adoption of the service. Fully 25% of online African Americans use Twitter at least occasionally, with 11% doing so on a typical day.
Additionally, Twitter use by internet users ages 25-34 has doubled since late 2010 (from 9% to 19%) and usage by those ages 35-44 has also grown significantly (from 8% to 14%).
Bite-sized advice from Coquette
What’s your advice for a starving artist?
Eat something and don’t refer to yourself as an artist.
I have been single for five years and I have no interest in others but my ex. What should I do?
Grow up.
Coach or first class?
Private jet.
Why is everyone having so much more fun than I am?
Don’t believe the hype.
What is the key to a happy life?
Happiness.
How do I fall in love with my wife again?
Make sure you haven’t lost respect for her, and then simply be open to it.
Is it worth it to try to change anyone?
Is it insanity to believe that you can?
Do you think the Republicans have a chance in 2012?
If they ditch the religious right and start kissing middle-class ass, I suppose anything’s possible.
Is there anything wrong with being gay?
No, and anyone who tells you otherwise is either ignorant or evil.
How do I tell whether I’ve forgiven someone or just feel superior to them?
If there’s any confusion, you haven’t forgiven them.
I hate how narcissistic and self-centered I am. It’s always about me, me, me. What do you think I should do about this?
Jettison your ego.
Good way to break it off when he keeps calling after one awkward date?
I usually go with brutal honesty and repetition of the phrase “it’s not gonna happen.”
I’m 27, smart and beautiful, but also underpaid and single. How is that possible?
Shut up and bring me the drink menu.
Is it possible for a 47-year-old Caucasian straight male to find that special person to settle down and have kids, or is it too late?
Sure, especially if you’ve got some hair and a little money. There are plenty of slightly desperate 36-year-olds out there whose biological clocks are strapped to dynamite. Cut the blue wire.
Why are you so dumb?
Why are you still reading my column?
Pizza date!
Ready for the Hype Machine app? Check out what it’s all about and click The Daily piece above to download. (And while it’s not quite HD yet, the app works on iPads, too!)
Endeavour Returns to Earth for the Final Time
When Endeavour landed for the final time early today, it was the last leg of a storied journey for the nearly two-decade-old shuttle. —Video by Elizabeth Saab and Elyse Kaftan
Zen Fighter
Professional mixed-martial-arts fighter Erik Owings says the full-contact sport is as much about skill as it is about philosophy. —Video by Erin Ade
Credit: The Daily (www.thedaily.com)
No comments:
Post a Comment