Overview

Denver Riggleman Bigfoot Erotica Controversy refers to an accusation by Virginia Democratic congressional candidate Leslie Cockburn that her republican opponent, Denver Riggleman, is a "devotee of Bigfoot erotica" and has self-published a book of cryptozoological erotica featuring Bigfoot.

Background

On July 29th, 2018, Leslie Cockburn, a democratic candidate for congress in Virginia's 5th district, tweeted ^[1] a screen caption from her republican opponent Denver Riggleman of an illustration of Bigfoot with its genitals censored, which was to be the cover art for his self-published book "The Mating Habits of Bigfoot and Why Women Want Him." She captioned the tweet, "My opponent Denver Riggleman, running mate of Corey Stewart, was caught on camera campaigning with a white supremacist. Now he has been exposed as a devotee of Bigfoot erotica. This is not what we need on Capitol Hill." The post (shown below, left) received more than 3,000 retweets and 7,000 likes in 24 hours.

Developments

Riggleman's Response

Denver Riggleman denied the allegations. He told the Washington Post that he and his team were "stunned" by the accusation, admitting that he did write an "anthropological book sort of based on parody and satire." However, he said that the book was part of a long-running joke with "a bunch of military pals."

The Instagram post was part of that joke. He said that the book was drawn by a friend as a mock cover for the book. He said of the cover, "I thought it was funny. There is no way that anybody’s dumb enough to think this is real."^[8]

Online Reaction

Following the tweet, people responded to the allegation with surprise. Twitter^[2] user @paulisci tweeted, "We're at a place where 'Republican candidate for congress is a devotee of Bigfoot erotica' isn't even the weirdest story in American politics this week." The post (shown below, left) received more than 185 retweets and 530 likes in 24 hours.

Twitter^[3] user @MollyMcKew tweeted, "2018, when 'devotee of Bigfoot erotica' -- (yeah, big"foot") -- is uttered in politics without anyone blinking." The post (shown below, right) received more than 130 retweets and 450 likes in 24 hours. Additionally, Twitter^[4]

On July 30th, Twitter^[12] published a Moments page about the controversy.

The news was posted on several subreddits, including /r/BlueMidterm2018,^[5] /r/politics,^[6] /r/beholdthemasterrace^[7] and more.

Media Coverage

Several media outlets covered the accusation, including The Washington Post,^[8] The New York Daily News,^[9] HuffPost,^[10] Newsweek^[11] and more.

Search Interest

External References