A German mayor embarrassed himself by accidentally revealing his recent internet browsing history when attempting to attack the Alternative for Germany (AfD) political party.
Residents of Quickborn accessing the small German town’s Facebook page may first have been pleased to see their mayor working while out of the office. Despite being on a ski holiday in the Tyrol he was still posting criticism of his opponents in the Eurosceptic anti-mass migration AfD, reports Bild.
“No, the AfD is no longer a party just like any other,” he wrote, adding: “After pushing out Lucke and his democratic friends, this party no longer stands on the foundation of our Constitution.”
Had Mayor Thomas Köppl left his opposition to the AfD there and returned to the piste, there would have been no problem. Unfortunately for the married father of two, he chose to emphasise his point by including screenshots of extracts from the German Constitution itself.
Eagle-eyed subscribers to the Facebook page realised his recent internet history was on view in the browser toolbar. Open tabs showed he had accessed the free pornographic video sharing site, xHamster, as well as pages titled ‘BDSM Porno Videos’, ‘Punishment Porn’ and ‘German Slut Punished’.
In the time honoured fashion of all politicians who make an internet-based error, Mr. Köppl claimed he had not taken the screenshot and deleted it when ribald comments began to surface.
He eventually admitted he had attempted to access the pages in question, reports The Local. Even so, he insisted there was an innocent explanation.
In further Facebook posts, since deleted, he claimed to have heard some young men talking about BDSM (bondage, dominance and submission, sadomasochism) on a ski-lift, explaining:
“I wasn’t so up-to-date about that, which annoys me. They were mentioning the site ‘xHamster’, and when I got to my room I wanted to get clued-up.”
In fact Mr. Köppl claims never to have seen the pages in question as the internet was too slow meaning he was forced to resort to reading the Wikipedia article ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ to educate him. He concluded:
“I’m sure people who like it can have a lot of fun with BDSM. I find it rather disturbing. I have a problem with violence in general.”
One poster to the site asked the mayor: “Are you going to change the signs in the town to Quickporn?”
Another suggested, somewhat harshly, that “any man who claims never to have visited a porn site is a liar or has a problem with his sexuality.”