Former FBI Director James Comey had the nation’s social media attention this morning, for a bit anyway. Then Newsweek senior writer and MSNBC and Vanity Fair contributor Kurt Eichenwald began defending his reasoning for accidentally tweeting a photo that showed one of his browser tabs was open to hentai. Twitter went a little nuts.
The saga began when Eichenwald posted a photo of an anti-Semitic flyer he claimed to receive, despite the fact he’s not Jewish, on June 7. It was part of a tweetstorm leveled against Fox News and host Tucker Carlson, after Carlson dropped Eichenwald’s name in a negative manner, as Mediaite reported.
Yah, crappy photoshop Max. Unfortunately, no, this is what I got today. pic.twitter.com/jmi1U4wLUd
— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) June 8, 2017
But posting photos on Twitter is dangerous, and it wasn’t long before someone had pulled a “computer, enhance” move to blow up the the background elements. Behind the flyer was Eichenwald’s computer screen, and one of his browser tabs was titled “B-Chiku.” Eagle-eyed Twitter users identified it as hentai, a brand of Japanese animated pornography most frequently associated with “tentacle porn.” You can probably use your imagination on that one.
Immediately, Twitter began dunking on Eichenwald for the misstep, and he deleted the tweet. But it was his interesting defense of the browser tab that took Twitter’s eyes away from things like Comey’s testimony and John McCain’s stumbling attempt to turn attention to the Hillary Clinton email investigation.
Eichenwald noted all the joking responses coming his way on June 8, around the time the Comey hearing had most on Twitter rapt and ready for reactions. He explained the reason the tab was on his browser was, uh, academic.
Sigh. Ok, I'm a dumbass. Believe it or not, my kids & I were trying to convince my wife that "tentacle porn" existed. I tried to find…(1)
— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) June 8, 2017
…some to show her it was real. But I couldn't find any – & ended up w/ this. My family reads my twitter feed, so they know this is true.
— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) June 8, 2017
“Manga,” for those wondering, refers to Japanese comic books (and “anime” is Japanese animation, for the record, but all three often employ similar art styles). Of course, many on Twitter had already made up their mind that Eichenwald was into anime porn.
https://twitter.com/boxbrown/status/872862654703992834
Kurt you have somehow managed to transcend being Not Mad online into a higher plane of being. I'm genuinely impressed.
— Virgil Texas (@virgiltexas) June 8, 2017
this parody account is pointless. i cant compete
— Kirk Eichenwald (@kirkeichenwald) June 8, 2017
https://twitter.com/theleftout/status/872859564135202817
https://twitter.com/polly/status/872866384035934208
— Lauren Krisai (@laurenkrisai) June 8, 2017
— dylan (@alltimeworst) June 8, 2017
He even went so far as to produce the text message conversation between his wife, his adult children, and himself as proof of the reason.
No one hacked my account. We were searching to prove to my wife tentacle porn exists. See text convo. I only removed names and drug names. pic.twitter.com/EMHYlYKcPf
— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) June 8, 2017
Funny as the situation was, he ended on a good point. After all, millions of people look at all sorts of porn.
https://twitter.com/kurteichenwald/status/872860185576001536
https://twitter.com/kurteichenwald/status/872861382894653440
Ive got nothing left to say about this. Believe what I say or dont. Think my family has odd conversations (we do) or don't. So it goes.
— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) June 8, 2017