A doctored image of Ted Cruz naked except for a leather harness, leather hot pants, leather gloves, and leather boots is here to haunt you in your sleep. Tattooed across the antigay lawmaker’s belly are the words “Proud Boy” and in his hands is a leather riding crop.
The giant wall sticker first appeared on the side of a building along the St. Mary’s Strip in San Antonio, Texas a few weeks ago. The image is now being widely shared on Twitter and TikTok.
@satxchill
Just to be clear, there’s absolutely nothing wrong wearing leather or being into BDSM. It’s clear to us that whoever is responsible for this image is being ironic as Cruz is one of the most conservative members of Congress.
He opposes Pride parades, marriage equality, and gender neutral bathrooms. He also doesn’t think LGBTQ people should included in any nondiscrimination protections, and he once argued to ban sex toys, saying adults had no legal right to use them.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
Oh, then there was the time he slut shamed an adult film performer who his own campaign hired to be in an attack ad against Sen. Marco Rubio. (Cruz later claimed he was unaware of the woman’s “colorful film history” and said he never would have hired her has he known.)
The BDSM image has folx on Twitter divided…
I’m not sure if I want to ? or ? at this giant wall sticker of @tedcruz in San Antonio pic.twitter.com/YwjE6AGMlk
— Pepper Spray ? #BLM #BidenHarris2020 (@Pepita9000) April 24, 2021
The #bdsm community does not accept #TedCruz… in case it needed to be said.
— Daisy (@Bleak_Widow) April 25, 2021
Fat-shaming bad people is still fat-shaming & tells your fat friends how you really feel about them. Queer-shaming bad people is still queer-shaming & tells your queer friends how you really feel about them. The bad people will never find out; your friends won’t be able to forget
— Dr. Joseph Mastron (@OhYeahLasers) March 30, 2021
I was just talking with someone who found this pic of @tedcruz offensive. I asked her to name one (1) thing that he has done that actually benefitted Texans. She was unable to think of a single action. Can you name 1?? pic.twitter.com/1gBHUA0tUG
— TXShamrock665 ?? (@TXShamrock665) April 24, 2021
he is not the dominator
he should be wearing a leash and muzzle— Humanism Resisted (@4yrContumacious) March 29, 2021
This leather bear did not deserve Ted Cruz’s face on his body. #CancunCruz https://t.co/CqbWwIn3AJ
— John-Phillip ? (@PopRag) March 30, 2021
Pardon me, I’m going to be violently ill . . .
— Mrs. Betty Bowers (@BettyBowers) March 30, 2021
Just saw a tweet on that leather daddy Ted Cruz thing talking about how it was better than the one of him in drag and CAN WE STOP USING QUEERNESS AS A TOOL TO VISUALLY “HUMILIATE” AWFUL MEN? Thanks.
— Dr. Reba McEntired (@Mr_Colin) March 30, 2021
Homophobia and fat phobia are products of white supremacist ideation regarding physical “perfection”
This is broadly anti revolutionary
— wolf bee cryptid (@Raioush) April 25, 2021
Once you see it
You can't unsee it #TedCruz pic.twitter.com/h3Uo1OVklq— Liberal15 (@Liberal151) April 13, 2021
In other Cruz news, he recently gave a press conference alongside antigay Senators Marsha Blackburn and Lindsey Graham during which he railed against Democrats for trying to pack the courts.
“You didn’t see Republicans when we had control of the Senate try to rig the game,” he said. “You didn’t see us try to pack the court!”
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX): "You didn't see Republicans when we had control of the Senate try to rig the game. You didn't see us try to pack the court." pic.twitter.com/reUU9WJU1d
— The Recount (@therecount) April 22, 2021
Cruz seems to have forgotten about how Republicans invented a new rule that said new SCOTUS justices couldn’t be confirmed during the final year of a president’s term after Antonin Scalia died then disregarded their own rule to ram through Amy Coney Barrett two weeks before the 2020 election. Or how they filibustered all of Obama’s judicial nominees then nuked the judicial filibuster once Trump was elected to get Neil Gorsuch confirmed and jam through dozens of appellate judges.
Senator Ed Markey is currently pushing for high court expansion, hoping to expand the number of SCOTUS justices from 9 to 13.
Politico reports:
The idea of expanding the Supreme Court became a liberal cause celebré after Republicans confirmed three Supreme Court justices during former President Donald Trump‘s term. Markey’s proposal, introduced with Reps. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) and Mondaire Jones (D-N.Y.), would increase the number of justices to 13 from 9. The number of Supreme Court justices has changed seven times in U.S. history, ranging from five to 10, but has stayed at nine since the late 19th century.
Graham Gremore is the Features Editor and a Staff Writer at Queerty. Follow him on Twitter @grahamgremore.
Jim
His wife sounds like a dominatrix!
twomen4u
He needs the largest ballgag possible to shut his month. Once you plug that hole give him the largest sex toy he tried to ban. Suspend him and walk away.
muscl954
There are a lot of comments made that seem to equate the BDSM community and the gay community. They can be mutually inclusive but aren’t exclusively mutual. And just because you use a heavyset body in a photoshopped meme doesn’t indicate fat-shaming. (Unless you are purposely implying that being heavyset should be shameful or worthy of ridicule.
DennisMpls
@muscl954 I agree with your point about BDSM and the gay community not being “exclusively mutual.” But I disagree with your assertion that the image isn’t fat shaming. Obviously I can’t know for sure, but it seems likely that the image was intentionally chosen to show Cruz in what the creator thought would be the worst possible light, i.e., fat. And the BDSM imagery was likely chosen to imply queerness, if not specifically gayness. No matter the reality, though, I think the creator at least should have been aware that it would COME ACROSS as an attempt to humiliate Cruz by making him seem fat and queer.
So I’m with the folks who disapprove on that basis. Though I also have to say that it’s not an earth-shattering issue either. We seem to have become a two-sided society, where something has to be at one of the two poles of thought. It’s possible to react to this (and similar things) with the idea that we don’t approve, or it makes us uncomfortable, but it’s not that big a deal.
jsmu
@DennisMpls No, sweetie pie. Fled Ted is obese and disgusting; depicting his slothful, vomitous corpus AS IT IS is nothing like ‘fat shaming’ but is a completely realistic portrayal. TRUTH is a complete defense, moron!
Heywood Jablowme
@DennisMpls: “an attempt to humiliate Cruz by making him seem fat and queer.”
Two different issues. Cruz is not queer (fortunately!) but he is indeed FAT. That’s a simple fact.
Is anyone really saying they should have depicted a shirtless Ted Cruz as NOT fat, simply to avoid “fat-shaming” any fat people looking at it? That would be confusing because a slim Ted Cruz would be unrealistic. No one would even know it was supposed to be him.
Fname Optional Lname
I didn’t look at it as fat shaming, I took it as “Cruz shaming” because once one becomes aware of his personality it makes it almost impossible for him to appear attractive in any way, shape or form
marshal phillips
Could this be … Satan?
darklight413
Am I the only one who thinks he actually looks the best he ever has in this pic?
Mack
Gross
fur_hunter
There are NOT enough UGLY descriptive adjectives to describe Ted Cruz. And if I tried to put them here, Queerty would delete my post like they have so many others when I have used some of them. Talk about cancel culture. AHAHAHAHH EHEHHEHEHEH HAHAHAHHAHA
Fahd
Cruz was speechifying in the Senate the other day, and the depiction of his body seems pretty accurate to me, so I don’t know if depicting someone as he is should be called fat-shaming. Art is art; caricature is caricature, and even in Texas the First Amendment applies. Still, I think the whole thing is like calling someone/something you don’t like “gay” (here BDSM), and I hate that.
davidkit
So if they put his head on a gym body, would that be workout shaming?
jsmu
Thank you. The BULLSH*TE is over the nose with the woke garbage!