Cory Booker DMs stripper, dismisses controversy

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Did Newark mayor and U.S. Senate hopeful Cory Booker take a page out of Anthony Weiner’s playbook?

The 44-year-old Democrat has been messaging a stripper via Twitter, according to an original NSFW report by Buzzfeed.

The story has since been picked up by the New York Times.

Lynsie Lee, a 26-year-old stripper at the “world’s first vegan strip club” called Casa Diablo in Oregon, revealed private messages sent from Booker. According to the Times, Lee has a “slight crush on the mayor.”

The two connected after they both appeared in Follow Friday: The Film, a movie about Twitter.

Lee tweeted a screenshot of direct messages between her and Booker after another girl, Calla Bonanno, said she and the mayor “DM on the reg.”

The DM exchange between Booker and Lee started when the Senate candidate said, “And the East Coast loves you and by the East Coast, I mean me.”

“Well now I’m blushing :),” Lee responded.  To which Booker said [sic], “Its only fair.”

The 26-year-old told Buzzfeed the DMs started when she sent “an actual tweet saying that the West Coast loved him, especially me. So he replied with that just to flatter me.”

Booker took to his Twitter account Wednesday afternoon, making light of the reports:

During the New York City mayoral primary race, Democratic candidate Anthony Weiner was involved in an ongoing sexting scandal which had previously derailed his Congressional career. He was later outed by Sydney Leathers, one of the young women he sent salacious texts and photos to. The drama likely led to Weiner’s disappointing fifth place finish in this year’s race for the mayoral nomination.

Referencing Leathers, who launched a porn career in the wake of the Weiner debacle, Lee tweeted:

https://twitter.com/LynsieLee/status/383036312179068929

“I think it’s pretty well known that the mayor talks with people from all walks of life on Twitter,” Booker campaign spokesperson Kevin Griffis told Buzzfeed. “There have been a couple of stories about that over the years. Really, the most shocking part of this story was learning there is a vegan strip club in Portland.”

Follow Carrie Healey on Twitter @CarrieHeals.