Bigfoot erotica? Fur flies in U.S. Congress race

If you’re bored of sex scandals of the typical human variety (guy in power sends female staffer a digital photo of his erect member — female staffer is unimpressed), I have good news for you: We have entered the era of the Sasquatch Scandal.

Democrats love big government. Republicans love Bigfoot.

This is the prevailing theme of the current race for United States Congress in Virginia’s 5th District — a race that’s shifted modern American political sex scandal into newer, hairier territory.

Last weekend, Leslie Cockburn, a Democratic candidate, accused her Republican opponent, Denver Riggleman, of being a “devotee” and author of “Bigfoot erotica.”

That is, the genre of erotic literature in which Bigfoot, the elusive sasquatch of North American folklore, ravishes human women in the wilderness. It’s a very popular genre. If you don’t believe me, Google it. You will almost certainly come across the writings of prolific Bigfoot erotica author Virginia Wade, whose works include The Moan for Bigfoot Anthology and Namaste With Sasquatch.

But it isn’t Wade’s fur fetish that has people talking and tweeting. It is, allegedly, Riggleman’s.

In Cockburn’s own words on Twitter, “My opponent Denver Riggleman, running mate of Corey Stewart, was caught on camera campaigning with a white supremacist. Now he has been exposed as a devotee of Bigfoot erotica. This is not what we need on Capitol Hill.”

Cockburn attached a photo with her tweet — what appears to be a screen grab from Riggleman’s personal Instagram account. The photo depicts a cartoon drawing of Bigfoot with a very long “censored” box covering the creature’s loins, indicating what many in the sasquatch-enthusiast community have long suspected: that Bigfoot is well endowed.

The caption beneath Riggleman’s post reads, “Cover art for #matinghabitsofbigfoot almost complete. I hide nothing in this magnificent tome.”

It turns out Riggleman is co-author of a 2006 book called Bigfoot Exterminators, Inc.: The Partially Cautionary, Mostly True Tale of Monster Hunt 2006. He’s also allegedly writing a new book called Mating Habits of Bigfoot and Why Women Want Him.

In other words, it’s true. By his own admission, the Republican candidate is a sasquatch enthusiast (which is interesting, because Bigfoot is presumably the last of an endangered species and it’s hard to believe such a creature who depends on environmental protections would take too kindly to a Republican admirer).

However, Riggleman vehemently denies penning erotica about the mysterious sasquatch. “Yes I wrote a book about Bigfoot believers,” he tweeted in response to Cockburn’s post this week. But he claims, “I didn’t know what bigfoot erotica was until @LeslieCockburn mentioned it.” All this is to say that the verdict is out on whether Riggleman has the hots for the hairy beast.

But the verdict is in on some- thing else: We are living in profoundly twisted times if news of a guy’s possible connection to monster porn is more damning than allegations that he sought favour with white nationalists.

As Cockburn mentioned in her tweet above, Riggleman is accused of appearing alongside white supremacist Isaac Smith at a political rally. And he has so far refused to unequivocally distance himself from controversial Virginia politician Corey Stewart, the Republican running for the Senate who, according to The New York Times, once appeared at an event with Jason Kessler, the white nationalist who organized the deadly Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Va., last August.

Stewart later disavowed Kessler, and Riggleman wrote an op-ed firmly denouncing white supremacists. But the stain of past association remains. Flirting with racist politicians — or at the very least refusing to condemn them — isn’t or shouldn’t be a small thing easily forgotten by voters.

But the viral attention Cockburn’s tweet provoked points to an unfortunate truth: People appear more surprised by the notion that a politician could fancy Bigfoot than they are by the notion that he could fancy white supremacist ideology.

An explanation for this may be that openly white supremacist viewpoints are practically everywhere these days in the U.S. — and to a certain degree in Canada as well — thanks in no small part to the president of the United States. Romantic interest in Bigfoot, on the other hand, is still relatively fringe.

If only this reality were reversed. I’d take an America where Bigfoot lovers roamed the land in great numbers, out and proud, while white supremacists cowered in the closet, over this one any day. But perhaps that’s asking too much too soon. (Even though most of us are weird and kinky anyway. PornHub’s top searches of 2017 included such terms as “Donald Trump” and “Fidget Spinner.”)

For now, we’ll have to settle for an America where an alleged furry fetish is more scandalous than an alleged Nazi one.