Congressman Brad Sherman (D-CA) was caught sitting in what looks to me like United Airlines first class on a Boeing 737 using his iPad, screen brightness way up, looking at scantily-clad women.
His seat opponent snaps photos of the long-time representative and his screen, and this has gone viral asking “Why did California Congressman Brad Sherman feel it was appropriate to look at porn on his iPad during a flight today? His district deserves better representation than this!!”
Why did California Congressman Brad Sherman feel it was appropriate to look at porn on his iPad during a flight today? His district deserves better representation than this!! #CA32 pic.twitter.com/gAYZ82tyr2
— Dear White Staffers (@dearwhitestaff) November 14, 2025
It was enough of a firestorm that the L.A. native, who represents parts of the San Fernando Valley and Simi Hills and is a strong advocate for pro-Hollywood legislation (like strong copyright), actually gave an interview on the incident.
- He admits that he looked at the pictures.
- Says he was just scrolling his X “For You” page and these sexualized posts showed up there. (Cough, if true there’s a reason the algorithm suggests them!)
- Claims he looked at “more than 1,000 posts” during the session.
- And he drops what’s become a now-infamous line: if he sees a picture of a woman, he might look at it longer than a picture of a sunset…
Sherman insists this is not “pornography” in his view (and implies that Elon Musk doesn’t treat it as porn, since the algorithm suggests it to him), but concedes it wasn’t appropriate airplane behavior. The “mouth open” staring at the iPad, though…
2/ Sherman denied repeatedly that he was looking or pornography or has a problem with pornography.
Sherman said these photos came up in “Twitter feed” under the “For You” heading
— John Bresnahan (@bresreports) November 15, 2025
7/ Sherman: “If you have to fly across the country, you look at a lot of stuff on your tablet.”
– 30 –
— John Bresnahan (@bresreports) November 15, 2025
Online commenters generally agree this isn’t porn, per se and accept that he wasn’t necessarily searching for these images. They just get pushed to him based on his past Twitter behavior! He’s not blocking the content! And it’s a bit much for a space that lacks privacy as a septuagenarian Member of Congress. So the algorithm doesn’t quite work as excuse.
Much of the discusion is also an intramural fight within the mainstream – versus – hard left of the Democratic Party, as more Democratic Socialists seek to purge old guard liberals (and Jews). Sherman is also criticized as out of touch with culture on the left because, although he’s pro-civil liberties he’s seen as representing the porn industry as constituents in the West San Fernando Valley.
As ill-advised as giving the interview may have been, perhaps the best poorly conceived zinger came from Congresswoman Nancy Mace who continues the story about her own terrible air travel behavior berating law enforcement and TSA at the Charleston airport – a story she just won’t let die – by suggesting Sherman’s behavior was worse (it wasn’t).
I don’t want to hear a single peep from anyone in/around Congress, or the media, abt how I stroll through an airport ever again… https://t.co/yDNB3urxAc
— Rep. Nancy Mace (@RepNancyMace) November 14, 2025
My best guess is that this took place on either United 1470 or 2294 from Washington Dulles to Los Angeles. It’s likely an evening flight from D.C. to the Congressman’s home in California, not the 1 a.m. arrival, and the 6 p.m. flight is on a widebody. Sherman preceded me by many years on my college debate team.
Eww. Perhaps, both he and Mace should both retire from politics, if they each cannot simply behave like most people on flights and in-airports. Sheesh.
All of this type of stuff – on both sides – is just a distraction from what’s really important.
@Ron — 100%
(Even the Epstein cover-up is a distraction from billionaires and major corporations getting special treatment and literal socialism for themselves, while ironically vilifying ‘socialism’ for the people. Like, if we’re gonna force people to starve and not have healthcare, let’s stop subsidies for big oil and big pharma, too.)
1) I would say that photos of “scantily clad” women — I’m thinking he was looking at photographs of women in swimsuits or lingerie — isn’t porn by many people’s standards, but it probably is by other people’s standards. (Justice Potter Stewart’s famous “I know it when I see it” standard, Jacobellis v. Ohio, 378 U.S. 184 [1964].) Now — REGARDLESS of whether a photograph of a “scantily clad” woman is porn or not — is it smart to look at those photos on an airplane… in public? Uh, I’m going to say “no.”
2) As far as Sherman being “criticized as out of touch with culture on the left because, although he’s pro-civil liberties he’s seen as representing the porn industry as constituents in the West San Fernando Valley,” does that mean, because Ross Fulcher represents Idaho’s 1st Congressional District which includes Coeur d’Alene — home to several hate groups and white supremacist organizations — he, too, is a white supremacist? I mean, they ARE his constituents…does he represent white supremacist interests in Congress???
As someone living in his district, I can say this is the most exciting, productive and press-worthy thing he’s done in decades.