Democrat Nikki Fried, who is challenging incumbent Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), is denying the explosive claim she appeared in a sex tape. Meanwhile, no one seems to know where the rumor came from.
“Ma’am thank you for clarifying but the question was about how you would allocate excess funds from the state budget,” Stephen L. Miller quipped in reply.
“No one:
Absolutely nobody:
Literally zero previous tweets ever:
Nikki Fried: “there is no sex tape,” one person shared.
No one:
Absolutely nobody:
Literally zero previous tweets ever:
Nikki Fried: “there is no sex tape.” https://t.co/lAlA2Ve2O5
— Damin Toell (@damintoell) April 15, 2022
“Dang,” podcaster Jesse Kelly wrote.
The original tweet, which appears in response to nothing, read: “It’s absurd that I have to dignify this, but there is no sex tape. Sorry to disappoint. Also sorry basically every successful woman has to deal with these types of rumors.”
It’s absurd that I have to dignify this, but there is no sex tape. Sorry to disappoint. Also sorry basically every successful woman has to deal with these types of rumors.
— Nikki Fried (@NikkiFried) April 15, 2022
Plenty of the gubernatorial candidate’s followers accused DeSantis of “planting” the rumor, or said Republicans were “scared” that they’d lose the election, which is why they’d start discussing a sex tape. According to the Florida Chamber of Commerce, DeSantis maintains a significant double-digit lead over any of his Democratic challengers as of April 1.
Fried’s campaign did not respond to The Daily Wire’s request for a comment.
Meanwhile, Fried has come under fire for a variety of reasons unrelated to an X-rated video she may or may not have participated in. The 44-year-old candidate, who is currently serving as Florida’s Commissioner of Agriculture, took heat for comparing the current governor to Hitler when discussing his handling of reopening the state following COVID-19 lockdown restrictions.
“…[DeSantis] is doing everything possible to take away power from local governments,” Fried said during a conversation with NPR’s Friday Roundup Podcast. “Taking away people’s abilities to protest. Making it harder to vote. Talking about banning books.”
“That’s what dictators do,” she continued. “Instead of listening and trying to govern with the people, he is trying to govern over the people, and, you know, that, I’m sorry, I’m a student of history, too. I saw the rise of Hitler, I learned those stories.”
“Are you comparing DeSantis to Hitler?” co-host Melissa Ross asked.
“In a lot of ways, yes,” Fried replied. “I have studied Hitler and how he got to power, you know, wanting his own militia.”
Critics were quick to denounce Fried’s comparison. This came just a few months after Fried caught flak for saying she’d “show up” for Florida following DeSantis being absent. Meanwhile, he was taking time to escort his wife, Casey DeSantis, to cancer treatments.
“As governor, I’ll show up,” she tweeted.
“But if someone you love gets cancer, you wouldn’t show up to their treatments? Wow,” DeSantis Press Secretary Christina Pushaw wrote.
“Nikki Fried placing a LOT of bets here that the online left has got it right in claiming DeSantis wasn’t really with his wife for cancer treatment… and I don’t think we have a Sanford situation here so the odds look pretty long for her…Charlie Crist probably thrilled with this tweet and where this could all be headed, quite frankly,” political strategist Liz Mair wrote.