At the Libertarian Party’s national convention on Sunday, a candidate for party chairman used his two minutes of speaking time to perform an impromptu striptease.
Reactions have been mixed.
During the performance itself, the audience audibly shifted from clapping and cheering at first to angrily booing as it became clear the candidate, James Weeks, was stripping all the way down to his underwear.
“Get off the stage! You’re making an ass of yourself!” one man shouted at him. “Idiot! Moron!”
On the other hand, at least two audience members cheerfully approached Weeks and appeared to stick dollar bills in his thong.
Since then the online reaction from Libertarians has been largely negative. Weeks’ Facebook page was inundated with angry comments from Libertarians, many of whom complained that his stunt made it harder for Americans to take the party seriously, the Huffington Post reported. As of Tuesday, those comments appear to have been taken down.
On the other hand, one post that remains features a meme-style photo of Weeks in his thong, with the caption, “STILL A BETTER CANDIDATE THAN GARY JOHNSON.”
But the most priceless reaction of all may be that of the Libertarian official moderating the party chair candidates’ speeches. After Weeks finished stripping and left the stage, the moderator returned to the microphone and said calmly, “The next candidate for nomination is…”