Connecticut state rep Ernest Hewett was already receiving some serious backlash for making what seemed to be a sexual comment to a 17-year-old girl, but his explanation for the comment has made things even worse.
While he tried his best to explain he has a clean past when it comes to women, all he really did was reveal he may be a little sexist and apparently can’t control his sexual urges.
The Connecticut state rep has dug himself an even deeper hole than before, but he is still denying any real wrong doing.
It all started when the young girl described her fear of snakes at a public hearing.
What was Hewett’s response to the high school student’s fear? “If you’re bashful, I got a snake sitting under my desk here.”
Some journalists are suggesting he didn’t really mean anything sexual by the comment, but we’re not buying that story.
What else could he have meant by “I got a snake sitting under my desk here?”
Did he really have a pet snake hiding under his desk? Was he trying to scare her as a joke? And would either scenario be appropriate behavior?
But oh wait! Mr. Hewett has an explanation for what happened!
He never tried to explain what he really meant by saying there was a snake under his desk, but he did give us some rock solid evidence that he would have never said such a thing.
“I purposely will not have female interns,” he explained to the Courant.
Yes ladies and gentlemen that was his reasoning for why he is still a good guy. Any man who won’t hire female interns has to be a great guy right? What an amazing man he is to not give women the same opportunities as men and to refuse to have them in his office because he is aware of the fact that his sexual urges might get the best of him… are you serious Ernest?
In case you were wondering, the explanation doesn’t get any better.
“My intern now is male,” he continued. “I want to keep it like that. I’ve had female interns in the past that sit in my office all day. I thought it was totally weird and I didn’t want another. As a matter of fact, I went four, maybe six years without having an intern at all because of stuff like that.”
Stuff like what? Stuff like a woman having the audacity to sit in your office and mind her business? Stuff like you trying to make sure that “snake” stays under your desk to keep you out of trouble?
Mr. Hewett even admitted it himself that he avoids female interns to “keep [himself] good.”
“I have a male intern, the last two I’ve had were male,” he continued. “That way that keeps me good and that keeps everybody else good.”