Stephanie Carter took to Medium on Sunday to explain a viral image of her with Joe Biden that has been circulating online in various forms.

Back in 2015, Carter joined Biden for a White House event captured on video.

A still from the video looks decidedly cringy, which has been pointed out again and again.

Here is one version, showing Biden’s hands on her shoulders.

In a medium post, Stephanie Carter says this viral screenshot capturing a moment between her and Joe Biden wasn't a #MeToo

"A still shot taken from a video — misleadingly extracted from what was a longer moment between close friends.. "

Read More: https://t.co/9GErf2HVcO pic.twitter.com/8aVVMBIZu9

— Yashar Ali (@yashar) April 1, 2019

But as Carter notes, it is not the whole story. In fact, it is not even the right one.

In her own words, Carter explained how she had slipped on the ice just prior and was uncharacteristically uncomfortable when her husband, Ash Carter was being sworn in as Secretary of Defense.

By the time then-Vice President Biden had arrived, he could sense I was uncharacteristically nervous- and quickly gave me a hug. After the swearing in, as Ash was giving remarks, he leaned in to tell me “thank you for letting him do this” and kept his hands on my shoulders as a means of offering his support. But a still shot taken from a video — misleadingly extracted from what was a longer moment between close friends — sent out in a snarky tweet — came to be the lasting image of that day.

She also noted that in the next days the rumor mill didn’t stop, even when her husband told the press that they were friends with the Bidens.

“Ash tried to joke that it was the only way people knew that he had been sworn in,” Carter wrote. “At his first available opportunity, he told the press that we had been friends with the Bidens for years and it wasn’t at all what people thought. But that didn’t stop people I had not heard from since high school sending me messages — usually with some joke or demanding to know what he had said to me.”

Carter concluded by saying she thought if she didn’t dignify the whole thing with a response, it might go away.

It did not. Instead, due to the Lucy Flores story, the image — and accusations — have been circulating once again.

“I thought it would all blow over if I didn’t dignify it with a response,” she said. “But clearly that was wishful thinking.”

She added: “I won’t pretend that this will be the last of that picture, but it will be the last of other people speaking for me.”

Read Carter’s whole post here.

[image via screengrab]

from Mediaite https://ift.tt/2FHiJv4