On May 27, 2011, the Democratic congressman from New York Anthony Weiner set off a political scandal that virtually ended his political career and made him a household name for the years to come.
When he accidentally publicly tweeted lewd photos to all of his Twitter followers, instead of direct messaging it to his sexting partner, it was only up for an instant, but the damage had already been done. The media had already picked up on the story, prompting him to quickly respond that he had in fact been hacked and that the photos were not his. The days following the original tweet and the public denial created a frenzy of women coming to the media and claiming they were in online relationships with the Congressman. Eventually, Weiner admitted to the tweets and to the various relationships, causing him to resign from Congress and take time to repair the damage with his family.
In 2013, after almost two years out of the spotlight, the former Congressman announced he had done a lot of soul searching and would be running for mayor of New York City. However, during his mayoral run, reports surfaced that Weiner had been continuing in online relationships over the previous two years, using the pseudonym “Carlos Danger” to remain anonymous. This revelation caused his popularity among voters to decline exponentially and effectively end his campaign for mayor.
Over the course of these two and a half years, the focus and theme among all of his scandals were how he responded to the media, how pop culture and other outlets were influenced, and how social media and effective public relations is key in today’s society to damage control and positive public image. Examples of these themes include the New York Times Magazine profile on him and his wife, the Law and Order episode modeled after the scandal, Twitter’s relationship to the scandal, and how the media handled his resignation from Congress.