Heard on the Hill: West Intern Fired Over Retweet
It’s not Monday without a Member of Congress making a very public faux pas the week before … and on the social networking site Twitter, no less. (Members, never stop tweeting. Politics and Twitter paint the rest of our lives with a bit of Technicolor.)
On Friday afternoon, someone tweeted from Rep. Allen West’s Twitter account: “Very sorry about the unauthorized RT. We were not hacked, an intern made an error. Apologies to all.”
Ha. Hacked! Like Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) first said. Good one.
And just what was the unauthorized retweet from the Florida Republican’s account? Glad you asked. It was a tweet from the Scissor Sisters, the very out-of-the-closet three-person band specializing in dance tracks and camp.
The group tweeted: “Dear Tracy Morgan’s son: if you are gay, you can TOTALLY come live with me. We’ll read James Baldwin & watch Paris is Burning. xxANA”
West’s staff is in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., for a retreat, and the interns are manning the office.
One intern got on the official feed for the Congressman, who is known for saying, “Gay marriage is an oxymoron,” and retweeted the tweet. He has since been fired.