Fact Check

Did Anthony Scaramucci Post a Sexually Explicit Tweet in 2009?

An image purportedly showing a missive from White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci was digitally manipulated.

Published July 25, 2017

 (JStone / Shutterstock.com)
Image Via JStone / Shutterstock.com
Claim:
White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci posted a sexually explicit tweet in 2009.

In July 2017, several news outlets reported that Anthony Scaramucci had deleted several old tweets after he was hired as U.S. President Donald Trump's new White House communications director. As reports filed in, and tweets disappeared, an image purportedly showing a sexually explicit tweet Scaramucci had posted several years before suddenly appeared, along with an oddly insistent description:

Ten years in and we bone like we're cheating on each other WITH each other. A decade-plus and her clit-brown-tain-area stil pOwns my dick.

The message shown in this tweet really did appear on 9 July 2009, but (probably predictably) it was not sent by Anthony Scaramucci. It was actually posted by director Kevin Smith, and it is still available on his Twitter timeline:

Both messages show the same timestamp, indicating that whomever created the fake Scaramucci message simply cut out Smith's Twitter name and replaced it with that of the new White House communications director:

Several news outlets (such as the Washington Post, Time, and Deadline) have documented the various tweets Scaramucci deleted in July 2017.

Scaramucci said that he was deleting old tweets, many of which criticized President Donald Trump, because he didn't want his "past views" to serve as a distraction:

Although the tweet may have been embarrassing to Scaramucci if it had been real, it is of a personal nature and therefore would not have conflicted in any way with his position.

Sources

Phillips, Kristine.   "Read Anthony Scaramucci’s Old Tweets. You’ll Understand Why he Deleted Them."     Washington Post.   23 July 2017.

Marchman, Tim.   "Remember When Kevin Smith Sent Out The Worst Tweet Of All Time?"     Deadspin.   1 June 2015.

Segarra, Lisa.   "Anthony Scaramucci Deletes Old Trump Tweets to Avoid 'Distraction.'"     Time.   22 July 2017.

Dan Evon is a former writer for Snopes.