After a Senate staffer who reportedly worked for Democrat Maryland Sen. Ben Cardin uploaded a clip of himself performing lewd acts with another man in a Senate hearing room, corporate media outlets rushed to downplay the scandal.
Shortly after the footage leaked from a WhatsApp chat to the Daily Caller on Friday, 24-year-old Aidan Maese-Czeropski was fired from his position as a legislative aide in Cardin’s office. He responded to the blowback by claiming the criticism was homophobic.
“This has been a difficult time for me,” Czeropski wrote in a LinkedIn post, “as I have been attacked for who I love to pursue a political agenda.”
Despite the existence of both the graphic film and Czeropski’s tacit admission of guilt, corporate outlets were quick to give the ex-staffer the benefit of the doubt.
According to BBC and Politico, Czeropski was merely “linked” to the Senate sex tape.
Corporate outlets that have no problem jumping to negative conclusions about Republicans were hesitant to identify Czeropski, with CBS News hiding behind the fact that it had “not independently obtained the video or confirmed the identity of the individuals involved” despite the extensive reporting implicating the Cardin staffer. CNN‘s headline — “Senate aide out of job after purported sex tape apparently filmed in Senate hearing room” — went out of its way to remove all agency from the aide and makes him appear like the victim. NBC News sought to signal to its readers what to think about the scandal by noting it was “alleged by conservative media.” Just about every headline from the corporate press omitted that Czeropski is a Democrat staffer, let alone one who appeared in a campaign ad for President Joe Biden.
The media’s apologetic coverage recalls the similar treatment given to a Virginia Democrat candidate who was revealed to be live-streaming sex acts online. Politico ran a sympathetic post-election Q&A painting the pornographic candidate as the victim, with the headline: “Her Online Sex Life Was Exposed. She Lost Her Election. Now She’s Speaking Out.”
On the other hand, when Republicans are caught in scandalous behavior, the media’s condemnation is swift. When Colorado Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert got handsy with her date in a Denver theater, her behavior garnered four articles from the Guardian alone.
New York Magazine called Boebert’s indiscretion a “groping debacle” she “can’t shake,” and the incident earned Boebert endless mockery from leftists everywhere from newsrooms to “Saturday Night Live.”
According to the New York Post, Czeropski joined Cardin’s office two years ago and had a history of “posting risque comments on social media.” Matthew Keys at TheDesk.net reported Monday that Cardin’s top staffer was aware of Czeropski’s promiscuous internet activity but promoted him last month anyway.
Czeropski received the kind of coverage typically afforded to gay leftists who reflexively cry “homophobia” whenever they are on the receiving end of criticism. When openly gay Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg was criticized for taking an eight-week paternity leave during a supply chain crisis, the White House condemned comments as “homophobic” with the press echoing the “homophobic” label in headlines.
