Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez attacks The Daily Caller for publishing 'a fake nude photo of me'
A photo of a woman's feet in a bathtub went viral earlier this week after Reddit users claimed they belonged to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
The rumor was quickly debunked, but The Daily Caller published a headline which was not clear that the photo was actually of another woman.
Ocasio-Cortez lashed out at the conservative outlet on Wednesday night, calling its publication "completely disgusting behavior."
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez slammed conservative news site The Daily Caller for publishing "a fake nude photo of me" under a misleading headline.
The photo went viral earlier this week after people circulated the photo on Reddit, claiming that it was of Ocasio-Cortez. It shows a pair of feet in a bathtub, but a blurred reflection of a nude female torso is also visible.
Motherboard on Monday reported that the photo was actually of political activist Sydney Leathers, who told the outlet that the picture shows her body, and "is a few years old."
The Daily Caller on Monday reported Motherboard's story under the headline: "Here's The Photo Some People Described As A Nude Selfie of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez."
Although it is accurate to say "some people described" the photo as showing Ocasio-Cortez, it omits the fact that those people were wrong.
Ocasio-Cortez lashed out at the outlet on Wednesday night, slamming The Daily Caller's publication as "completely disgusting behavior."
GOP have been losing their mind + frothing at the mouth all week, so this was just a matter of time.
There is also a Daily Mail reporter (Ruth Styles) going to my boyfriend’s relative’s homes+offering them cash for “stories.”
Women in leadership face more scrutiny. Period. https://t.co/KuHJ75sdMg— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 10, 2019
For those out of the loop, Republicans began to circulate a fake nude photo of me. The @DailyCaller reposted it (!) and refused to indicate it was fake in the title as well.
Completely disgusting behavior from Conservative outlets.
No wonder they defended Kavanaugh so fiercely.
Related: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Instagram
She tweeted: "For those out of the loop, Republicans began to circulate a fake nude photo of me. The @DailyCaller reposted it (!) and refused to indicate it was fake in the title as well."
"Completely disgusting behavior from Conservative outlets," she added. "No wonder they defended Kavanaugh so fiercely."
The Daily Caller has since changed its headline to "Anthony Weiner Mistress Stands Up for AOC After Evil Internet Trolls Spread Fake Nude Photo," referring to Leathers, who was linked to former New York Rep. Anthony Weiner's sexting scandals uncovered in 2016. AOC are Ocasio-Cortez's initials.
The outlet also added a correction at the bottom of the article, which said: "An earlier version of the headline for this story made an inaccurate implication. The story has since been updated for accuracy."
A cached version of the article with the original headline can be found here.
INSIDER has contacted The Daily Caller and Betsy Rothstein, the reporter who wrote the article, for comment.
Ocasio-Cortez started her first day as the congressional representative of New York's 14th district on Monday. She told INSIDER's Eliza Relman in a recent interview that she writes all her own tweets, but deletes many she drafts in anger before they publish.
