California Democrat Brad Sherman defended himself Friday after social media users accused him of viewing pornographic content on a commercial flight, saying the lewd images automatically appeared on his X-feed.
The 71-year-old congressman faced backlash when photos circulated of him looking at his iPad screen, which showed women in lingerie and bikinis, Newsweek reported. Original X mail at the time of this writing, it has 11.9 million views.
Sherman told Punchbowl News that the images were taken from X's “For You” page while browsing. “If I see a photograph of a woman, can I look at her longer than the sunset? Yes,” Sherman said. “I must have looked at over 1,000 messages.”
Congressman accused X algorithm for the content that appears on his feed during the flight. “Is this pornography? I don't think Elon Musk thinks so,” Sherman said, although he acknowledged that viewing such material in such an environment is unacceptable. “Is this appropriate? No”. (RELATED: Tech Company's Personalized Porn Scheme Will Leave Young People Worse Than Before)
Why did California Congressman Brad Sherman think it was appropriate to watch porn on his iPad during a flight today? His district deserves better representation than this!! #CA32 pic.twitter.com/gAYZ82tyr2
— Dear White Staff (@dearwhitestaff) November 14, 2025
Platform X shows content on the For You page based on accounts which users follow and the topics they are interested in, in accordance with company.
The incident prompted reactions from several political figures. Donald Trump Jr. published “Yes!!!!” and White House Communications Director Stephen Chung called Sherman is a complete idiot.
Sherman dismissed returned to Cheng with the phrase “Bruh. Release the #EpsteinFiles,” referring to ongoing calls for transparency regarding Jeffrey Epstein's documents.
Republican Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina used the controversy to address her recent airport. incident. “I don't want to hear a peep from anyone in or around Congress or the media about me ever walking through an airport again,” Mace wrote.
She recently came under fire for harassing TSA officers at a South Carolina airport.
