In an interview with a Boston-based Fox affiliate that aired Monday, former Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) finally offered an explanation for the mysterious, early-morning messages that surfaced on his Twitter account late last month, saying they were the result of a “pocket tweet” and denying emphatically that he was intoxicated at the time.
One of Brown’s tweets addressed a man named Matt, while another included what was clearly a butchered attempt at the word “whatever.” “Bqhatevwr,” Brown wrote, in what almost immediately rose to meme status.
But the former senator said that anyone with the latest version of the iPhone should empathize.
“Anyone ever hear of pocket tweet, pocket dial? I mean it was pretty simple. I have an iPhone 5. If anyone has iPhone 5, the keys are small,” Brown said. “It’s very, very sensitive.”
He said he never expected the story to blow up, and was surprised to find out that he was a trending topic on Twitter the next morning.
“Ayla was teaching me how to get on Facebook and Twitter,” Brown said of his oldest daughter. “There are some areas that I didn’t really didn’t understand. It was after her concert, we were here right in the living room. I responded to a couple of people. Then I put it in my pocket. The next thing, I wake up and it trended worldwide.”
With regard to the notion that he sent the tweets after a few too many drinks, Brown said that would be out of character for him.
“First of all, I rarely drink. The last time I was ever drunk was at my bachelor party and that was what? — 28 years ago, 27 years ago,” Brown said. “So I guess no one has ever pocket dialed or pocket tweeted before.”
Read Brown’s tweets:
