Former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker was roasted on Twitter this weekend after attempting to pass off an old photo of a pizza as new.
In a tweet on Saturday, the Republican claimed to have visited a local pizza establishment in an effort to help small businesses amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
“Great pizza tonight at San Giorgio Pizzeria Napoletana,” Walker said. “We have to support our local restaurants and small businesses!”
At first, Twitter users weighed in on the pizza itself, trashing Walker much like Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) was this month after sharing a picture of his questionable brisket.
“If that’s what you call ‘pizza’ in Wisconsin I’m never going,” @YIMBY_Princeton said.
But it wasn’t long after that users began noticing something else about the picture, mainly that it looked suspiciously familiar.
After digging through Walker’s Twitter timeline, users discovered an older photo from the same restaurant sent out by the former governor in Oct. of last year.
Not only that, it looked as if the newer picture was merely cropped out from the older pizza picture.
“This is a picture of a pizza you had in 2019,” @erikhalvorsen18 noted.
The discovery of the identical photos quickly led to criticism of Walker, with users mocking the conservative Christian for lying to the public.
“This may be the saddest thing ever seen on twitter: Scott Walker cropped a picture of a pizza he had in October 2019 and RTd it as ‘Great Pizza tonight,'” @donmoyn said.
Others began questioning whether Walker had even visited the restaurant at all.
“Holy heck. @ScottWalker wanted to appear to be supporting in-person dining without actually risking his health by going to a restaurant so he tweeted out a picture of a pizza he ate in 2019 and pretended he went out to a restaurant and ate it tonight. #WhatATool,” former Secretary of State of Missouri Jason Kander said.
Walker responded to the backlash on Sunday by stating that he had in fact visited the pizzeria for dinner but that he had forgotten to take a photo.
“My family & I went to @SanGiorgioMKE last night. Great food,” Walker said. “I used an old photo since we didn’t take one last night.”
Walker went on to suggest that he was thankful for the attention on his deceptive tweet given that it might possibly increase the restaurant’s business.
“I’m glad this tweet has generated so much attention,” Walker added. “I hope people support Gino and his team at @SanGiorgioMKE. Small business is hurting, & they need our support.”
Whether Walker’s embarrassing tweet will bring more customers into the pizzeria remains to be seen.
The pizza restaurant has thus far declined to comment on the matter, although the businesses’ Twitter account has liked all of Walker’s recent tweets.