Last week, as presidential hopefuls Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton debated one another, the internet instead turned its attention to one Ken Bone, who became an instant viral celebrity after asking the candidates … something or other about energy policy.
The red shirt-wearing, bushy moustache-having Bone launched a million Twitter memes, and lapped up the attention, launching his own t-shirt line, doing the rounds of US current affairs shows, and even getting his own segment on Jimmy Kimmel Live.
The internet’s brief but powerful love affair with Bone appears to be waning, however, after he participated in a Reddit AMA, using his pre-existing Reddit alias of StanGibson18 – an unwise move, in that he did not first delete his old comments.
In no time flat, users had checked his history on the site, and begun screengrabbing some of his more unsavoury remarks. In one, Bone spoke about his fondness for the hacked Jennifer Lawrence nudes, saying:
“Maybe she should have been more careful with her pics, but the bad guys are still the ones who sought them out and looked at them. By which I mean guys like me. I saw her butt hole. I liked it.”
He also copped to committing “felony insurance fraud” to keep his job as a pizza delivery driver, saying:
“I forged documents to make it look like I had car insurance so I wouldn’t get fired from my pizza delivery job. During the 2 months it took me to pay to get my real insurance back my fake cards and documentation fooled 3 bosses and a cop. Made them in MS paint by scanning an old card and changing the dates 1 pixel at a time. The paper documents and receipts were a bit tougher. Can’t say how I did them, I don’t know how long the statute of limitations is on that.”
Of course, not everything he posted was negative. Bone was fine with joking about himself as “fat and bald”, and once offered comfort to a survivor of sexual assault, telling them:
“Your value has not changed due his words, or any assault you have endured. You are still valuable.”
So, bit of a mixed bag, really. Bone has since made statements to the New York Times, clarifying and making a pretty sincere apology for seedier comments, saying:
“My message has been one about elevating the level of conversation, and if I want to hold our leaders accountable for their words then I must be accountable for mine.”
On the issue of the leaked Jennifer Lawrence nudes, he said
“It was a joke in poor taste made from my former anonymity. I take full responsibility for saying it. I wholeheartedly apologize and wish I could do so to her directly.”
He was also quick to note that his comments on insurance fraud were a stitch-up and nothing more:
“That was a made up story, and even in the story no documents were passed to law enforcement. They were used for employment.”
Never post.
Source: New York Times.
Photo: Ken Bone / Twitter.
