Former Deputy Mayor of London Richard Barnes claims he was not the person who uploaded his naked photos to Facebook.
Credit: TrendingCentral.com
Yet another politician learned the hard way to be more cautious when using social media: Richard Barnes, former Deputy Mayor of London, was the object of ridicule when full-frontal naked photos of him surfaced on his public Facebook page last week. Barnes put Anthony Weiner to shame with several selfies, some of which involved suspenders and most of which involved his penis.
The 65-year-old politician served as Boris Johnson’s deputy between 2008 and 2012. He is well-known for being London’s first openly gay deputy mayor.
Barnes quickly deleted the photos after his friend told him they were on Facebook, but not before some of his followers were able to grab screenshots. He went on a rant to Metro UK and made it clear that he had not intended to release the photos to the general public.
He said, “[It was] utterly and totally a mistake. I’ve been hacked into. I’ve no idea [what happened]. I’m annoyed and shaking with anger … I’m a 65-year-old gay man on his own … It’s not the sort of thing I do. Do you really think I would be that f—ing stupid after 30 years in politics?”
The answer might be yes – Internet commenters have speculated that Barnes probably had Facebook’s auto-upload feature turned on, which means any photos taken with the user’s iPhone are automatically uploaded on Facebook. Trending Central received the photos before they were taken down.
Barnes has since added two family-friendly photos to his public Facebook page: One of himself and a dog, and another of a flower pot.
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