(Memphis) – Congressman Steve Cohen said he was firing back against “gotcha journalism” when he deleted a tweet labeling singer Cyndi Lauper as “hot.”
He says he did it after the twitter scandal two months ago when he deleted a tweet to a young girl who turned out to be his daughter.
Then this week he deleted a tweet to Lauper that said ” great night couldn’t believe how hot u were. See you again next Tuesday. Try a little tenderness.”
He called it a trick on the news media and a way to promote the Memphis soul music being honored that same night at the White House.
“If you simply tweet it or send a press release out it doesn’t get much attention, but the media think when a politician deletes something they seem to think something nefarious or bad about it.”
Cohen insisted it was a stunt, and on his Facebook page he wrote he hopes it brings journalistic integrity. He even urged the press to contact Representatives Joe Courtney and John Yarmuth to corroborate his story.
However, when News Channel 3 called Rep. Courtney’s office his press secretary told us, “the Congressman did not find out about Cohen’s tweet until Wednesday night while he was at a Nationals baseball game. At that point the tweet had already been sent and deleted.”
CNN reported Congressman Yarmuth also said he didn’t speak to Cohen until after the tweet was sent.
Congressman Cohen responded Friday night and said his timing may have been off about when he told his colleagues about the tweet. He said, that shouldn’t matter, because they still new about his plan before anything came out in the media.