Does Chris Christie enjoy humiliation? The evidence is mounting. After spending four years debasing himself by supporting President Trump, the former New Jersey governor landed in the hospital with a covid-19 infection stemming from a White House superspreader event. Now he’s giving back to the people by offering anyone the chance to humiliate him on Cameo.
Celebrities on Cameo record short videos for a fee, and plenty of them have been duped into sending unintentionally embarrassing messages. Previous examples include Brett Favre being tricked into praising anti-Semites and former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski going in on putting poo poo in the toilet. Christie’s only been on the service for about a week, but he’s likely already having regrets.
On Thursday, Mike Cooney, the Democratic candidate for governor of Montana shared a Cameo clip of Christie sending a message to a guy named Greg begging him to come back to New Jersey. It’s Christie in his element. He lists Taylor ham, Bruce Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi, the Jersey Shore, and the boardwalks as just some of the reasons that Greg should return to the state. “So listen, we could do this the easy way or the hard way,” Christie says. “You could come back voluntarily, or maybe they’ll send me out to get you. I don’t think that’s what you want, Greg.”
The reason that Cooney was sharing the video is that Christie had been fooled into cutting a campaign ad highlighting the fact that the Republican gubernatorial candidate in Montana, Greg Gianforte, moved to the state from New Jersey—i.e. he’s not a real Montanan.
Gianforte is currently a member of the House and is best known for assaulting a journalist on the night he was elected. So, of course, Christie is a Gianforte fan and he was not happy to be used as a pawn for Cooney. He angrily tweeted that he was misled by a user named Brad Ley who had asked for a pep talk for his friend Greg. The full prompt read:
Governor — huge fan (and so glad you’re doing better)! My buddy Greg (who is also a big fan!) has been working out of state the last few years & me and his family have been trying to get him to come home to N.J. Could you give him some encouragement?
Brad Ley turned out to be Cooney’s campaign manager, Brad Elkins.
Christie tried to twist the situation into outrage saying, “I am doing Cameo to benefit a NJ charity that shelters & treats drug & alcohol addicted pregnant women & they send this misleading request.” Cooney responded on Twitter by noting that he’s “always happy to contribute to a worthwhile and important cause.”
As far as Cameo blunders go, this could’ve been much worse for Christie. But Cooney and Gianforte are tied up in Montana polls, so every little move counts. If Cooney prevails, it would be totally reasonable to mark this as the first Cameo that killed a politician’s dreams.