Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has spoken out after video emerged appearing to show House Republican Lauren Boebert engaging in what the New York congresswoman described as “sexually lewd acts” in a Colorado theater on September 10.

Boebert and a male companion were thrown out of the Buell Theatre in Denver after repeatedly vaping, using a cell phone and “causing a disturbance” during a performance of musical Beetlejuice.

Surveillance footage from inside the theater appeared to show Boebert’s male accomplice groping her breasts, and then being groped in turn by the Republican firebrand. In a statement, Boebert apologized for her behavior, which she claimed “fell short of my values,” but made no reference to the alleged sexual acts.

Ocasio-Cortez responded to the controversy in a one-minute video posted to her 323,000 TikTok followers on Thursday, in response to a viewer’s question.

She commented: "All I gotta say is I can’t go out to lunch in Florida in my free time, not doing anything, just eating outside and it’s wall-to-wall Fox News coverage and then you have a member of Congress engaging is sexually lewd acts in a public theater and they got nothing to say.”

“I danced to Phoenix once in college and it was like all over the place. But putting on a whole show of their own at Beetlejuice and there’s nothing? I’m just saying be consistent. That’s all I’m asking for. Equal treatment. I don’t expect it, but come on.”

  • TinyPizza@kbin.social
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    Living has gotta be tough when you know Ben Shapiro is updating your Wikifeet entry daily. Keep up the good work AOC. One day Ben will be gone and you’ll be able to wear strappy shoes and sandals in peace once again.

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      Wikifeet is…real? Yup, we don’t deserve the internet. Or earth.

      Also, why are the feet fetishists some of the creepiest? I don’t like kink shaming but why are they so weird?

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        Dude, how long have you been online if wikifeet is what you think puts us over the edge of deserving internet?

        You could honesty find at least 300 more taboo fetishes in under an hour without even getting into the dark web.

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        My theory is that some of the men who really enjoy sucking girls’ big toe are sublimating their desire to show oral affection to an entirely kind of blunt roughly thumb-thickness object.

        I am talking, of course, about cigars.

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        If it is as real as you suggest, they really missed an opportunity to call it “Wikifeetia”

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          My mind automatically makes “tia” into a “sha” sound, so I read that as Wikifeesha first time.

      • Moc@lemmy.world
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        Selection bias. Foot fetish is the most common fetish, and therefore has the most creep.

          • Moc@lemmy.world
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            Which part? That foot fetish is the most common one? Or that the most common fetish would have the most creeps, by nature of of population size?

            • WHYAREWEALLCAPS@lemmy.world
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              I think that foot fetish being the largest is iffy. I think it’s the most well known and has gotten more acceptable as models on OF and such are down with indulging a fetish as non-invasive as feet. I mean, I doubt they’re complaining about having to get another pedicure at a high end day spa that is being paid for by some rich guy in exchange for exclusive pictures. It’s also easy to promote on social media as none of them are banning pictures of feet compared to getting a community guidelines strike for just showing a bit of cleavage.

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              I honestly believe a large portion of the feet fetish guys are into it because it’s weird and makes them an outsider, and less because they actually find feet appealing. I also kind of feel like it’s a 4chan thing where enough people pretending to be into something eventually convinces others into just actually being into the thing. Anyhow, feet are fucking gross, thanks for coming to my talk!

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              You think feet clock in higher than bondage, leather, lingerie… I’d be super into seeing some figures, because that doesn’t mesh with my intuitions at all.

              I’d also like to offer a counterpoint to the hypothesis that the commonality is the creep factor, and suggest that it is, rather, the social disapproval that leads to that. Why? For one thing, that disapproval makes it harder to satisfy. Sex is a need for humans in a similar way if not as intense as food, and people will display behavior amoral at best and immoral at worst in service to that need. Obligate foot fetishists, who can’t get off without it, have therefore a more limited window for satisfaction of that need, whereas people who have options can get off other ways and don’t have the heavy breathing and sweating aesthetic about them in the same way.

    • Son_of_dad@lemmy.world
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      AOC unfortunately became an establishment Democrat pretty quickly. She’s all about the party nowadays.

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        You mean she’s learning how to build coalitions to get real policy enacted? Or is she not enough purist leftie for you?

        • ThePac@lemmy.ml
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          But I’m a child and think all my opinions should be law.

        • stewie3128@lemmy.ml
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          Nancy gave her a taste of the whoopin stick, and suddenly she let go her two most progressive and influential staffers. Since then, she’s toed the party line, including voting to break the railway strike.

        • Son_of_dad@lemmy.world
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          There’s no such thing as liberals or leftists in u.s politics. Just conservatives and ultra conservatives. The grossest thing is that even the Democrats are infected now, you can’t even criticize Biden (A man deserving of a career of criticism) or someone calls you a right winger. Anyone who isn’t on the same spectrum of politics as you is a right winger, even people more far left than you.

            • Son_of_dad@lemmy.world
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              Of course, I was critical of a democrat, so you went tribal and immediately hated and shit on what I said. You guys really need to fix this “my side’s politicians are beyond reproach” bullshit.

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                No, your take was just stupid and suggested you don’t care about abortion nor gay rights.

                Both parties may look similar from an economic perspective, but there’s an absolutely massive fucking gulf socially. Calling Democrats conservative just suggests you only care about economics.

                • whofearsthenight@lemm.ee
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                  … and even then, even if it’s just about economics, woefully fucking wrong. You can look at just about every economic measure under Dems vs Repubs and the outcomes are starkly different. The way they spend money is also starkly different, though at least on this front I would grant that compared to many countries, we don’t have a full-left party, but still wouldn’t call them conservative by any stretch.

                  tbh equivocating the two parties in 2023 after watching from birtherism to a full fucking attempt at a coup by republicans is very iq-like-lukewarm-pea-soup take.

          • HoustonHenry@lemmy.world
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            I’m talked to tons of democrats who’re unhappy with how Biden has failed to live up to his promises, and how he has lost an edge, and a myriad of other reasons. People criticize him ALL THE TIME! Left and right.

            Edit- I’ve found that democrats are far more willing to criticize Biden than Republicans who are willing to criticize Trump. Despite the mountains of evidence to directly contradict most of what comes out of Trumps mouth, Republicans “stand by their man”

            • phillaholic@lemm.ee
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              IMO criticizing Biden doesn’t solve anything for me. Write your congressperson. Attacking Biden with vague statements risks spreading apathy and handing over control to the other side which has already shown they will not on stretch the rules but break them, and I have zero hope they will even play inside the rules next time. I’ll take slow steady progress over regression every single time.

            • Evie @lemmy.world
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              I agree!! It’s literally a real life south park episode of what’s better … a turd sandwich or a giant douch

              Edit: Wow some petty people, who can’t take a lighthearted joke in dark times… I thought users were overreacting saying Lemmy is becoming Reddit… but here is the proof…

              Both candidates and sides suck! No real leader has emerged and is ready to lead the country to greatness… do please tell me why my joke is sooo offensively off base it deserves mass downvotes?

              • HoustonHenry@lemmy.world
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                I think a better comparison is a man who has lost a couple steps and isn’t as sharp as he used to be (Biden) vs a man who has actively chosen to enrich himself against the best interest of the country he briefly led (and is also not as sharp as he used to be).

                I once read that the government made Jimmy Carter get rid of his peanut farm before he could be president. I think that rule should have stayed in effect, but what do I know?

            • Son_of_dad@lemmy.world
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              If you criticize him here though, you get called names and told you’re a Trump supporter. It’s pathetic that the best Democrats can do is Biden, a guy who is responsible for so much death and destroyed lives though his hard stance on drugs and jails throughout his career. I see m think Biden is a conservative disguised as a leftist, he’s not anywhere near left wing enough and neither is anyone I can think of in u.s politics that is of any worth.

              And it’s really sad that you can’t even criticize a democrat here without people losing their minds and acting like you just insulted god.

              • HobbitFoot @thelemmy.club
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                This is Lemmy. The main criticism of Biden is that he passed the act to end the railroad strike instead of putting all railroad CEO’s in a room and then burning the room down.

                The supporters of Biden here are either going to point to Trump and say “he ain’t that” or are going to say he did something good, even if it wasn’t everything they wanted.

              • HoustonHenry@lemmy.world
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                Has anyone lost their shit when I criticized Biden? I don’t see ANYONE GIVING A SHIT! ANYONE??

                It’s pretty fun to watch you push a point no one agrees with though, keep going bud

              • phillaholic@lemm.ee
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                You’re not picking friends. Learn how Politics work, both in the literal sense and the interpersonal sense. No one likes someone who just complains all the time. You need to learn to pick your battles. If you spread aparthy among your peers about Biden, you might get someone much much worse. And despite the wet dream of letting things get so bad that some magical revolution comes in and saves us, reality hits us like a truck. Overturns Roe, Overturns the voting rights act, guts the EPA, among other things. It’ll take an entire generation to fix these things.

                • Armen12@lemm.ee
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                  Talking about a political candidate is literally the most basic form of democracy in this country, it literally doesn’t get any more basic then people debating things, least of all someone running for office

                  You can’t just threaten people with friendship, that’s insane lol

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            Are they though, at least in the circles I frequent I don’t see that. But I do avoid mainstream social media.

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        You don’t pass bills with 1 vote. Coalition building is a necessary part of democracy. If you don’t believe in coalition building, you don’t actually believe in democracy…

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        I fucking hate being left on issues because how much the left doesn’t figure out the game.

        On a post about AOC literally complaining about how effective the right is at suppressing voices on the left. You comment ‘you know why AOC is a big dumb bitch’

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    I remember how much pearl-clutching there was over AOC. Dancing. In college. Oh, the horror! Imagine it! Dancing! All of a sudden every con became a town elder with a stick wedged in their posterior in the movie Footloose.

    (By the way - I love to use those gifs of her dancing when replying to cons when the discussion is AOC.)

    And now that Qbert is caught in a grope session, with children present, the cons seem to be mum. Weird.

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    Do they really have to say alleged sex acts? I mean, there’s video. Are they suggesting that maybe the groping and fondling wasn’t sexual in nature?

    • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
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      You’re right, the uh “activity” was definitely getting her boobs groped and flashed about- and giving a handy in return (both of which looked incredibly uncomfortable, just saying.)

      That said, what the video shows is a crime, and there’s fairly strict ways they can write about potential criminals which more or less mandate tacking on qualifiers- like “allegedly”, at least until they can tack on the “convicted” qualifier.

        • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
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          Unlike the court of public opinion, you are innocent until proven guilty.

          actually, it’s a mere presumption. as a matter of due process, you’re guilty whether or not your found so in a court. the decisions by a jury are irrelevant to the fact of any acts you may or may not have committed- or the reasons behind them. Which is why we have innocent people that have been locked away on charges they didn’t commit, and people who get off on charges we all know they did. Jury trials are a shitty way to find justice- the other ways are universally worse, mind, but that doesn’t mean its great.

          Back to the matter at hand, we’ve all seen the video. We all know what was happening. I was able to find this document providing a brief overview of CO’s sex offenses. the two that apply are on page 19.

          Public Indecency:

          • Performing in a public place or where the conduct may reasonably be expected to be viewed by members of the public, an act of sexual intercourse; a lewd exposure of an intimate part of the body, not including the genitals, with intent to arouse or satisfy the sexual desire of any person; a lewd fondling or caress of the body of another person; or a knowing exposure of the person’s genitals to the view of a person under circumstances in which such conduct is likely to cause affront or alarm to the other person (Section 18-7-301, C.R.S.)

          • A subsequent conviction of a knowing exposure of the person’s genitals to the view of a person under circumstances in which such conduct is likely to cause affront or alarm to the other person (Section 18-7-301 (2)(b), C.R.S.)

          and:

          Indecent Exposure

          • Knowingly exposing one’s genitals to the view of any person under circumstances in which such conduct is likely to cause affront or alarm to the other person; knowingly performing an act of masturbation in a manner which exposes the act to the view of any person under circumstances in which such conduct is likely to cause affront or alarm to the other person (Section 18-7-302 (1), C.R.S.)

          • Third or subsequent incident of knowingly exposing one’s genitals to the view of any person under circumstances in which such conduct is likely to cause affront or alarm to the other person (Section 18-7-302 (4), C.R.S.)
            (emphasis mine)

          The first is a shoe in. we all know that she was wanking him off. proving it might be a different matter, but we all know it. Ergo, it’s completely legitimate to say she’s a sexual offender. Worse, not that I know if it matters legally, kids were exposed to this. All that to say: yes she should get due process in court. No. that presumption doesn’t change the fact that she’s a sex offender.

            • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
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              even if it was a felony, yeah. Don’t you know who she is!?!

              I’m far more interested in seeing her registered on the sex offender’s registry than jail time or fines. “Party of Family Values” being championed by a registered sex offender appeals to my incredibly petty side.

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                You think the list of GOP champion sex offenders is small enough that adding boeberts name will make any difference?

                • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
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                  Probably not, which is why it’s the petty side and not the more reasonable side that this tickles, lol.

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      A journalistic org will always say alleged until someone is convicted, even if the crime is “obvious”

    • Fedizen@lemmy.world
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      Thats a good point. She already apologized for getting caught as well. I think at this point its “verified exhibitionist sex acts”

    • 18-24-61-B-17-17-4@lemmy.world
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      Maybe she lost a popcorn down in her titties and he was helping get it out. And to thank him she… gave him an OTPHJ? I got nothin’.

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      In America yes. Unless someone has literally been convicted of something in court, you’re better off just saying allegedly and not leaving yourself open to lawsuits.

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        I’m America, yes.

        So America is a false god? Or a farcical one at best?

        That checks out.

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      Nope, they REALLY don’t have to. In fact, it’s tantamount to gaslighting to claim that there’s anything “alleged” about something that has been publicly shown to definitely be the case.

      If they didn’t have much bigger fish to fry, media ethics watchdogs should really clamp down on this kind of bullshit.

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        That’s not necessary. As they say, the truth is an absolute defense in libel and slander cases. You can’t convict someone of malicously lying when there’s no lie.

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          You can bankrupt them proving that though. The idea isn’t just to avoid the final judgement, but to avoid being taken to court in the first place.

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            Pretty sure Newsweek can afford a trial, especially one where they get a lot of free publicity and readers for standing up against a hypocrite sex offender who was already despised by most of the population trying to stifle the freedom of the press to publish the obvious truth 🤷

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    Obviously she’s completely correct. But she should realize at this point that it’s a waste of time to ever expect conservatives to be consistent. It’s not in their nature.

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      Right, but that’s also where it’s up to us to help call it out.

      AOC’s fighting exactly our fight, and the minute we get complacent, I say that’s where we suck.

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        Right. Use these kind of hypocritical acts as ammunition with conservative supporters. They’ll fight you. They’ll get angry and defensive. They’ll say it’s not the same.

        Don’t let them get away with it. It is the same. Just keep saying that. Call them delusional. Call them out of touch.

        Embarras the fuck out of them. They might not change their minds, but they will shut the fuck up and maybe even have second thoughts when voting.

        • borf@lemmynsfw.com
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          That isn’t how anything works though. The Backfire Effect and Confirmation Bias are the reason they dig their heels in harder the more you go to facts and figures. They don’t care about reality. Even worse, when you engage them, it gives them an audience for the slapfight so they can show off to others how good they are at “debating,” which in this context means “saying Ben Shapiro lines then looking smug”

          • Catpain Typo@lemmy.world
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            Exactly. The way to win people over isn’t to smash up their house and then tell them to build themselves one like yours. You need to build them a better place to live that feels doable for them and ask them to move in. Forgive my metaphor but it makes sense to me.

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        I get a lot of mileage out of this Sartre quote

        “Never believe that anti-Semites are completely unaware of the absurdity of their replies. They know that their remarks are frivolous, open to challenge. But they are amusing themselves, for it is their adversary who is obliged to use words responsibly, since he believes in words. The anti-Semites have the right to play. They even like to play with discourse for, by giving ridiculous reasons, they discredit the seriousness of their interlocutors. They delight in acting in bad faith, since they seek not to persuade by sound argument but to intimidate and disconcert. If you press them too closely, they will abruptly fall silent, loftily indicating by some phrase that the time for argument is past.”

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    The article really is just about how she responded to a thing. Not even mentioning in title if she did it in a noteworthy way or anything, just that she responded. Amazing

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      Right. But people will eat it up, as evidenced by this comments section. Something happened, people will create their own facts based on feelings and find articles with the right buzzwords to support said feelings. How did we get here?

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    Didn’t those weirdos also go on about AOC’s boyfriends feet at some point? The right wing media and the GQP have absolutely no substance. Their whole existence is a huge drain on our society.

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    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has spoken out after video emerged appearing to show House Republican Lauren Boebert engaging in what the New York congresswoman described as “sexually lewd acts” in a Colorado theater on September 10.

    Boebert and a male companion were thrown out of the Buell Theatre in Denver after repeatedly vaping, using a cell phone and “causing a disturbance” during a performance of musical Beetlejuice.

    In a statement, Boebert apologized for her behavior, which she claimed “fell short of my values,” but made no reference to the alleged sexual acts.

    She commented: "All I gotta say is I can’t go out to lunch in Florida in my free time, not doing anything, just eating outside and it’s wall-to-wall Fox News coverage and then you have a member of Congress engaging is sexually lewd acts in a public theater and they got nothing to say.

    Boebert’s team had initially denied she was vaping during Beetlejuice, but after footage emerged contradicting this, the congresswoman admitted she had been, but insisted there had been no deliberate attempt to deceive.

    Boebert’s male companion at the musical was later identified as 46-year-old Quinn Gallagher, co-owner of the Hooch Craft Cocktail Bar, which has previously hosted drag shows.


    The original article contains 673 words, the summary contains 202 words. Saved 70%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

  • some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org
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    They are hypocrites and liars. Republicans don’t believe in shit other than “rules for me, not for thee,” and fear-mongering hate.

    ETA: Dems too, just not nearly on the same scale.