In a matter not entirely dissimilar from the compulsion that led The A.V. Club to run with the above headline rather than something “classy,” Anthony Weiner just can’t help himself. Yes, the disgraced former Congressman has once again been caught with his finger on the “send” button, as over the weekend The New York Post printed a detailed description, including pictures, of a series of risque text messages Weiner sent to someone who wasn’t his wife last year. (As opposed to the risque text messages he sent in 2011 and 2013.) As a result, the aforementioned wife, top Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin, released a statement this morning saying that she and Weiner are separating.
We do have some sympathy for Weiner. He and his wife both have stressful jobs that probably keep them separated a lot of the time, and on the scale of shitty things to do to a romantic partner, sexting is relatively low compared to, say, cheating and giving your partner an STD. But it’s still shitty, and to do it three times is just dumb. It’s also clear that, on top of all the betrayal and hurt feelings, Weiner’s become a liability for his wife, who is probably super pissed right now that her idiot husband put both of their reputations—and, by extension, Clinton’s—on the line because he lets his little Weiner make decisions for him.
But one person’s public relations nightmare is another’s public relations opportunity, and today’s revelations just so happened to coincide with an announcement from Showtime trumpeting its exclusive TV premiere of the documentary Weiner in October. The press release, which was sent out to outlets including The A.V. Club, doesn’t mention this newest round of illicit texts or whether they’ll be addressed in in a new introduction or postscript to the film, but it does say that the film “offers unrestricted access into the life of former congressman Anthony Weiner and his family as they take on the 2013 New York City mayoral race in the face of an ongoing high-profile scandal.” Wink wink.
Directed by Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg, Weiner won the Grand Jury prize at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. The A.V. Club’s Noel Murray gave it an A- in his review earlier this year, saying, “Weiner is about the downfall of a politician, but it’s also about the smugness and hypocrisy of those who took him down mainly because dick pics make better copy than nuanced explications of zoning laws.”
Weiner premieres October 22 on Showtime.