Here's The Naked 'Photo' This Politician Really Doesn't Want You to See
Whether or not you actually want to see it is a whole other matter entirely.
A Canadian lawmaker is crying cyberbullying after a 17-year-old kid tweeted a screengrab of a nude scene the actress-turned-politician appeared in back in 2008.
Lenore Zann, a member of the Nova Scotia legislature, filed a formal complaint with the provincial cyberbullying unit after Nic Scissons tweeted at her with an image taken from Zann's brief prison shower scene from the Showtime series The L Word.
[There was a video here]
He also included the message, "What happened to the old Lenore?"
Zann immediately fired back at Scissons, claiming he was cyberbulling her with an image he was not allowed to post.
"Distribution of this image falls under the Criminal code," Zann tweeted. "It has been reported."
The New Democrat politico representing Truro-Bible Hill-Millbrook-Salmon River ordered Scissons to take the tweet down, but he refused, telling Zann it was an image that was public and readily available.
Zann continued to claim that the image had been downloaded and distributed "illegally," and after others picked up on the Twitter beef and began to mock her, Zann made good on her promise to call the cops.
"I was being cyberbullied so I felt that I needed to call the police," she told CBC News. "The police suggested that I call the CyberScan unit as well and that's what they're there for. That's why we legislated them, so that they'd be there to help people who feel that they are being bullied by other people online."
The police concluded that no criminal activity had taken place, but the five-person anti-cyberbulling unit set up thanks to Zann's vote is said to still be on the case.
Not satisfied by the involvement of both the cops and the Justice Department task force she helped found, Zann contacted Scissons' parents, his principal, and the local school board.
Scissons' dad made him take down the tweet, but Scissons' mom said Zann had gone too far.
Scissons himself says he was just joking, but remains adamant that he did nothing wrong.
"She was on that show voluntarily and she knew that image was out there and I don't think I said anything mean about her," he told CBC.
Though the case can be made that Zann herself is now bullying Scissons, she at least has the sympathy of Professor Wayne MacKay, who ran the anti-cyberbulling task force last year.
"It's not about whether you absolutely intended to do it," he told CTV. "It's really looking more at what's the impact on the victim. The fact that you didn't really intend to be malicious is not necessarily a form of defence."
That's some worrying shit, Canada.
Update 7:50 p.m.: Zann has just posted a tweet claiming she was leaving Twitter for good:
Goodbye Twitter!! It's been quite a ride. See you on the flip-side! Lenore
— Lenore Zann (@lenorezann) December 16, 2013
[tweets via The National Post, Twitter, photo via @LenoreZann, screengrab via The L Word]