A politician from the United States has found himself in hot water after being seen viewing inappropriate images on a tablet during a flight.
Brad Sherman, a 71-year-old California Representative, was observed with such images, but he has refuted claims of having an issue with adult material.
Following this incident, a high-ranking official at the White House accused the representative of being a ‘gooner’ on social media. The term ‘gooner’ refers to someone who consumes excessive amounts of pornography.
Steven Cheung, the communications director for the White House, tweeted: “Bruh. What a total gooner.”
In response, Rep. Sherman issued a statement denying the accusation from the White House.
He explained: “If I see a picture of a woman, might I look at it longer than a sunset? Yeah”.
During an interview with Punchbowl News, Sherman asserted that the images of scantily clad women appeared on the ‘For You’ section of his feed on X.
“If you have to fly across the country, you look at a lot of stuff on your tablet,” he stated.
An image of Sherman with the tablet on the flight was shared on X, garnering millions of views.
The caption read: “Why did California Congressman Brad Sherman feel it was appropriate to look at porn on his iPad during a flight today?”
Social media users were quick to weigh in, with one noting: “With the screen brightness ALL the way up. Not an ounce of shame.”
While Sherman attributed the content to his ‘for you’ page, others commented that such pages often reflect one’s browsing history within the app.
However, this isn’t entirely true, as various factors influence the content shown on social media platforms while browsing.
The ‘for you’ page typically displays content from accounts not followed by the user.
According to the help center on X: “For you serves posts from accounts and topics you follow as well as recommended posts.”
Additionally, users may see posts from accounts they don’t follow based on several factors.
This could include content that is widely popular, with the platform explaining that suggestions may be based on ‘how popular it is and how people in your network are interacting with it’.
Representatives of Brad Sherman have been contacted for comment.