Former Beckwith Senior Advisor Discusses Topless AI Video
Former Beckwith Senior Advisor Says Deepfake AI Topless Video Exists
STATEWIDE–Erin Sheridan, former Senior Advisor to Indiana Lieutenant Governor Micah Beckwith, said Thursday morning that she witnessed members of Beckwith’s staff laughing while watching a deepfake AI porn video featuring Representative Craig Haggard’s wife earlier this year.
Accusations about the video came up in a piece written by Tom LoBianco of 24sightNews in August. LoBianco reported that a staffer and contract lawyer in Beckwith’s office viewed the deepfake video of Haggard’s wife on April 10.
Sheridan was terminated from her position at the Lieutenant Governor’s Office in July. She spoke to 93 WIBC’s Kendall and Casey on Thursday in an interview that lasted roughly 21 minutes.
“I was walking through the office and I heard some employees sitting around laughing and joking. It was a nice atmosphere. So I paused and said ‘What’s so funny? What’s everyone laughing about?’ They were like, ‘Oh my gosh. Check this out.’ They handed me a phone. I had no idea what I was getting ready to see. It obviously was fake, but it was a video of Haggard’s wife, Brooke, performing at the Hoosier Idol and she was topless,” said Sheridan.
Sheridan called the tone of the office “immature.”
“This was just over the top and they were flippant about sharing that, especially in a work environment with other cubicles and other employees,” said Sheridan.
Sheridan said she spoke to both men looking at it.
“I said, ‘Do me a favor and send that to Representative Haggard. If he’s okay with that video, then I am too.’ Looking back, that was so misguided on my end. I should have said, ‘Send it to Brooke Haggard and see what she has to say,” said Sheridan.
Then, Sheridan said the staff members told her that even “Micah thought it was funny.”
“I’m 100% certain they said that,” said Sheridan when Rob Kendall asked her again if that is, in fact, what she heard.
Sheridan argues that a lot of people wanted to see Beckwith succeed politically and he has “exploited that.” She says she spoke to Beckwith’s Chief of Staff Sherry Ellis about it the next day.
“I said, ‘Hey you might want to pay a little bit closer attention to what’s going on back there. They are sharing videos of a legislator’s wife topless. She laughed and said ‘Of course they are.’ I said, ‘That’s what is going to take all of us down,” said Sheridan.
Casey asked Sheridan if she will be able to get another job anywhere else at the Statehouse.
“I don’t think that I’ll be able to,” said Sheridan.
Beckwith has said in the past that he has seen no evidence that the video even exists.
“If someone can prove to me that there is a video, that it was watched and seen in my office and that there is some aspect of proof, then we will absolutely have someone else come in and do the investigation. At this point, we’ve done our investigation and we’ve done it thoroughly,” said Beckwith in an August interview with 93 WIBC’s Hammer and Nigel.
