Republican North Carolina Congressman Madison Cawthorn has gone viral on social media after a nude video of him with another man leaked on Twitter.
Cawthorn later responded to the explicit video saying he was just trying to be funny and fooling around with a friend.
Video Shows a Naked Cawthorn Thrusting on Bed with Another Man
The 30-second video, shared on Twitter on Wednesday, shows a naked Cawthorn appearing to hump and thrust on a bed near another man. The video does not show any sexual activity between the two men. It appears the footage is being recorded by someone else in the room. Cawthorn can be heard moaning and yelling.
Cawthorn Claims He was Just 'Acting Foolish' with a Friend
After the video appeared on social media, Cawthorn responded to it by tweeting: "A new hit against me just dropped. Years ago, in this video, I was being crass with a friend, trying to be funny. We were acting foolish, and joking. That's it. I'm NOT backing down. I told you there would be a drip drip campaign. Blackmail won't win. We will."
Cawthorn's Recent String of Controversies
The video comes weeks after a Politico "exclusive" report included a photo of him wearing women's lingerie. The photo was taken at a party on a cruise, according to Cawthorn.
Last week, another leaked video showed Cawthorn in a car with his aide and staffer, Stephen Smith, with Cawthorn saying, "I feel the passion and desire and would like to see a naked body beneath my hands." The video then shows Smith who responds, "Me too," as he reaches his hand toward Cawthorn's crotch as Cawthorn sits in the driver's seat, as previously reported.
After the video leaked, Cawthorn tweeted, "Many of my colleagues would be nowhere near politics if they had grown up with a cell phone in their hand."
In March, Cawthorn drew backlash from fellow Republicans after he said on the "Warrior Poet Society" podcast that he had been invited to an "orgy" at a politician's home after arriving in Washington and that, "Some of the people leading on the movement to try and remove addiction in our country, and then you watch them do a key bump of cocaine right in front of you. And it's like, this is wild."
