Lt. Gov. Beckwith Fights Back Against Former Staffer
INDIANAPOLIS — In a Friday interview with WIBC’s Hammer and Nigel, Indiana Lieutenant Governor Micah Beckwith directly addressed recent claims from Erin Sheridan, who said Beckwith knew about a possible deepfake topless AI video being viewed by members of his office and did nothing about it. Beckwith denied her claims, saying the existence of the video is a “complete lie.”
Sheridan is a former communications director and former senior advisor to Beckwith. She had claimed in a previous interview that Beckwith and his team were aware of a video.
However, Beckwith said he never saw the video and no proof of its existence has been found. He said his office conducted an internal investigation, interviewing staff members, and could not find anyone who could corroborate Sheridan’s story.
“I have not any knowledge of this video ever existing. There’s nothing,” Beckwith said, noting that his chief of staff also had no knowledge of it until the story was made public.
He believes the story is a “political hit job,” noting that it came out three days after his office had to let Sheridan go. Sheridan was terminated from her position at the Lieutenant Governor’s Office in July.
When asked why Sheridan would make up such an elaborate story, Beckwith said he doesn’t know her motivation but pointed to other statements she made that he claims are provably false. He mentioned that Sheridan claimed he was anti-Catholic and didn’t want women in leadership. Beckwith countered by saying his chief of staff and deputy communications director are both women, and the latter is Catholic. “If she’s lying about that, then I would just say she’s got to be lying about everything else,” he said.
Beckwith added he would consider taking legal action against Tom LoBiacno, a political journalist who broke the story, if the story is not true.
The conversation also touched on comments from Mayor Matt Gentry of Lebanon, who said Beckwith should resign if the claims were true. Beckwith criticized Gentry, stating he should “fix his own city” and calling his comments “petty.” He advised the mayor to focus on the problems in Lebanon instead of getting involved in this situation.
