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.”

      • JokeDeity
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        9 months ago

        Wait, what? I’ve just reread my comment like 50 times trying to figure out what you mean.

      • @MonkRome@lemmy.world
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        359 months ago

        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…

      • @Touching_Grass@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        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’

  • @CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world
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    1199 months ago

    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.

  • @Boddhisatva@lemmy.world
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    839 months ago

    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
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      269 months ago

      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.

      • !deleted120991
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        09 months ago

        You’re correct. As annoying as it is allegations are just that. Unlike the court of public opinion, you are innocent until proven guilty.

        • FuglyDuck
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          09 months ago

          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.

    • @GBU_28@lemm.ee
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      169 months ago

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

    • @Fedizen@lemmy.world
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      139 months ago

      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
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      109 months ago

      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’.

    • JokeDeity
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      9 months ago

      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.

        • JokeDeity
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          19 months ago

          I did fix my mistake, but I’m enjoying your interpretation. Thanks.

    • @Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
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      79 months ago

      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.

      • @Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
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        -19 months ago

        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.

        • 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.

          • @Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
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            49 months ago

            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 🤷

  • prole
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    839 months ago

    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.

      • @jjjalljs@ttrpg.network
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        59 months ago

        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.”

  • RaivoKulli
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    329 months ago

    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

    • @SpezBroughtMeHere@lemmy.world
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      -119 months ago

      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?

  • @Infinity187@lemm.ee
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    259 months ago

    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.

  • AutoTL;DRB
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    109 months ago

    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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    9 months ago

    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.

  • @Deftdrummer@lemmy.world
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    -139 months ago

    Libs asking for the media to be consistent now that’s some fucking poetic justice right there. Downright comical.

  • @Armen12@lemm.ee
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    -159 months ago

    So democrats are the prudes now? I get the point of the article, hypocrisy, but Republicans don’t come off in these stories as the bad ones

    • @theragu40@lemmy.world
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      79 months ago

      Why is asking for equal treatment prudish?

      Read what she said again. She doesn’t spend time talking about how disgusting Boebert is, she doesn’t call her names, she doesn’t call for her resignation, she doesn’t spend time whinging about the children, she doesn’t do any of the things that would be done to her if she did something like this.

      She simply noted that the reaction to this is less than what she has endured over lesser actions.

      I’m having a hard time grasping how that amounts to being a prude, so please help me understand.

    • @Daft_ish@lemmy.world
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      69 months ago

      So tone deaf. You don’t have to be prudish to disapprove of adults fondling each other in an all ages theater.

      • @Armen12@lemm.ee
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        -69 months ago

        “You don’t have to be prudish to disapprove of adults fondling each other in an all ages theater.”

        Yes, yes you do have to be prudish to get mad at people making out in public. Like I said before though, hypocrisy doesn’t work when it comes to sex, saying these people you hate like doing it isn’t going to make them seem like the bad ones, and pointing out FOX not covering it isn’t a news flash

        • @Daft_ish@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          Wow. You just down graded heavy petting to making out and acted like I wouldn’t notice. Tell me you know you’re wrong without telling me you know you’re wrong.

    • @Vlhacs@reddthat.com
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      19 months ago

      Read the quote again. She’s calling out Fox and conservative media for cherry picking what they are outraged about.