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Far-right North Carolina Republican Congressman Madison Cawthorn has been plagued by scandal since before he even took office, but recent weeks have been a nonstop barrage of bad press for the freshman Representative.
The new scandals almost daily came after Cawthorn claimed he'd been invited to cocaine-fueled orgies by his fellow Republicans—leading to widespread condemnation from the GOP and a summons to meet privately with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.
And it's only getting worse.
Amid the furor over a video in which the virulently anti-LGBTQ+ Congressman's cousin and aide Stephen L Smith touched his crotch, Cawthorn has responded with a move right out of former Republican President Donald Trump's playbook.
In a video statement, Cawthorn dismissed the moment as mere "locker room talk"—just hours before yet another video showing a far more salacious incident between he and a man believed to be Miller surfaced yesterday evening.
See Cawthorn's statement about the first video below.
Madison Cawthorn says the Daily Mail story showing with the video showing him and his legis aide making suggestive comments and touching each other was \u201cjust stupid locker room talk between cousins.\u201dpic.twitter.com/6m1Rw5fk6K— Ron Filipkowski \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@Ron Filipkowski \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1651695917
In the statement, Cawthorn dismissed the crotch-grabbing incident out of hand and characterized it as "media lies."
"This video was just stupid locker room talk between cousins that grew up like brothers, taken long before I served in Congress."
The verbiage is of course a direct reference to Trump's defense of his words in the infamous Access Hollywood tape in which he bragged about groping women without their consent, saying "when you're a star, they let you... grab them by the pussy."
Trump repeatedly dismissed the incident as "locker room talk" throughout the 2016 presidential campaign, a defense that quickly seemed implausible after multiple allegations of sexual assault were subsequently leveled against him.
Cawthorn is one of the most stridently anti-LGBTQ+ members of Congress who has made attacks against the community, and trans people in particular, a cornerstone of his image. Cawthorn has also issued numerous declarations about masculinity and being a "real man."
The crotch-grabbing video, along with leaked photos of Cawthorn in women's lingerie at a cruise ship party, have led to widespread condemnation of Cawthorn as a hypocrite who feels free to engage in queer-adjacent behavior, even if only in jest, while attacking and legislating against LGBTQ+ people in Congress.
And that ire has only intensified since the surfacing of yet another salacious video just hours after he posted his "locker room talk" response.
The new video, which some have called a "sex tape," shows Cawthorn nude in a hotel room bed thrusting his genitals in the face of an unidentified male believed to be Smith.
Madison Cawthorn everyone.pic.twitter.com/DGINZEjDzy— Walter Masterson (@Walter Masterson) 1651759274
Though the video is blurry and Cawthorn is unidentifiable, the Congressman confirmed the video's veracity.
Cawthorn called it part of a "drip drip campaign" of "blackmail" in a Twitter statement which hued closely to his previous "locker room talk" response.
A new hit against me just dropped. \n\nYears ago, in this video, I was being crass with a friend, trying to be funny.\n\nWe were acting foolish, and joking. \n\nThat\u2019s it. \n\nI\u2019m NOT backing down.\n\nI told you there would be a drip drip campaign.\n\nBlackmail won't win. We will.— Madison Cawthorn (@Madison Cawthorn) 1651706814
Cawthorn's "locker room talk" defense did not strike people on Twitter as particularly convincing.
Madison Cawthorn says the video of his male staffer touching his crotch was \u201cjust stupid locker room talk between cousins.\u201d\n\nMen do not do this in locker rooms and even if we did, it would not make it acceptable for Madison to engage in this conduct with a member of his own staff— Andrew Wortman \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 (@Andrew Wortman \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8) 1651696648
Thousands of dollars in gifts & 'loans'. not to mention the texts between them, but, just locker room talk . . .\n\n right . . . \n\n*Smith was living at Cawthorn's Hendersonville, North Carolina, home throughout the representative's brief marriage.pic.twitter.com/27AboPXg3w— Jake West \ud83d\udd4a \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 \ud83c\udf3b #FvckPutin (@Jake West \ud83d\udd4a \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 \ud83c\udf3b #FvckPutin) 1651698312
He actually went there. It was locker room groping.— Hoodlum \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 (@Hoodlum \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8) 1651696097
I don\u2019t Venmo my cousin w notes about nudes, getting naked for me, or quickies at airports.pic.twitter.com/ef3gCvzxeZ— It\u2019s Me (@It\u2019s Me) 1651697771
I have only just begun to fight for you... as soon as I'm done fighting with my "cousin"... https://twitter.com/madamdelicious/status/1521984184876687365?s=20&t=FYho239fx1g6NAXypL-BJA\u00a0\u2026— Not Fat Nixon (@Not Fat Nixon) 1651705609
His response to the nude video didn't seem to have the intended effect either.
"I was just nakedly thrusting my groin in someone's face without their consent as a joke. Why would anyone have a problem with that?"https://twitter.com/CawthornforNC/status/1521994807526281218\u00a0\u2026— Akiva Cohen (@Akiva Cohen) 1651759613
Makes a lot more sense now that Madison Cawthorn worshiped closeted fascist Adolf Hitler. \n \nMaddy took what he called a bucket list trip to see his vacation home. \n\nEven referring to him as the F\u00fchrer in a IG post. It\u2019s the hypocrisy for me\u2026\n#madisoncawthornvideopic.twitter.com/ZhO0Ywhsj2— Caitlin of County Kerry (@Caitlin of County Kerry) 1651753956
1. There is nothing in that video that was funny\n2. Just love yourself FFS.\n3. Unless you have proof someone threatened you, you were not "blackmailed."\n4. Dumbass\n5. Being gay is okay.\n6. Forcing sex no matter what is not.\n7. Stop projecting.https://twitter.com/CawthornforNC/status/1521994807526281218\u00a0\u2026— \u2744 \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 B\u030a\u2af6u\u030a\u2af6b\u030a\u2af6b\u030a\u2af6l\u030a\u2af6y\u030a\u2af6 \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 \u2744 (@\u2744 \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 B\u030a\u2af6u\u030a\u2af6b\u030a\u2af6b\u030a\u2af6l\u030a\u2af6y\u030a\u2af6 \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 \u2744) 1651714922
Madison Cawthorn's explanation of that leaked video is that he wasn't having sex with a man, he just thought it was hilarious to force his dick in someone's face. \n\nI've never heard anything more reflective of today's GOP than a defense of "Oh, I'm not gay. I'm just a rapist!"— Steve Hofstetter (@Steve Hofstetter) 1651765383
And of course there were plenty of wisecracks at Cawthorn's expense.
I\u2019m gonna tell my grandkids that this was Madison Cawthorn\u2026pic.twitter.com/vtfrKngpsU— c\u03b1\u03b7\u03b1\u2202\u03b1 \u043d\u03b1\u0442\u03b5s \u0442\u044f\u262d\u043c\u03c1 (@c\u03b1\u03b7\u03b1\u2202\u03b1 \u043d\u03b1\u0442\u03b5s \u0442\u044f\u262d\u043c\u03c1) 1651712026
Maybe drip drip isn\u2019t the way to go with this, man— FindACrimeHat (@FindACrimeHat) 1651760050
*blurriest video of all time, impossible to tell who anyone is*\n\nfirst of all let me be clear, this is real and that\u2019s me— sam (playoff mode) (@sam (playoff mode)) 1651707674
Like the crotch-grabbing video and the lingerie before it, the new video was released by American Muckrakers PAC, a group campaigning against Cawthorn's reelection bid in this November's midterm elections.
The group says all three pieces of material were provided to them by former associates of Cawthorn and his 2020 campaign.
The leaks are widely believed to be a Republican-led homophobic smear campaign against Cawthorn in retaliation for the comments he made in March accusing GOP politicians of inviting him to cocaine-fueled orgies.