Graham Platner, who has been accused of rape, drew sharp backlash online Wednesday after posting a lengthy video announcing he was ending his Maine Senate campaign while appearing to fault nearly everyone except himself.
The former oyster farmer’s 11-minute address — in which he pointed to the “corporate media,” the “political establishment” and even opposition tied to his support for “Medicare for all” as factors in his campaign’s collapse — was widely mocked by X users, who called the message unnecessary, self-indulgent and “narcissistic.”
“His campaign literally ended with a whimper,” conservative commentator Ryan James Girdusky wrote, describing Platner’s remarks as a self-pitying exit speech.
Platner posted the somber withdrawal video after Jenny Racicot, a woman he had previously dated, publicly alleged that he drunkenly raped her at her Maine home in 2021 despite her repeated pleas for him to stop. Platner has denied the accusation.
“This video is more embarrassing than the Nazi tattoo,” Emily Zanotti, a friend of one of Platner’s exes who has accused him of misconduct, wrote on X.
“Graham Platner announces the real victim in all of this is Graham Platner,” right-wing influencer Western Lensman posted on X, adding: “Saved you 11 minutes.”
The Chicks on the Right account offered its own summary: “TLDR: Campaign suspended and a whole bunch of bluster.”
Another user quipped that Platner appeared to be “trying to submit this for documentary short at the Oscars.”
“Coincidentally, 11 minutes is how long it would take to get a PBR at the Tune Inn when Platner was working because he’d be jawing someone at the other end of the bar who was doing a slow step away,” Doug Heye said of the former DC bartender’s long-winded video.
The failed candidate’s lack of self-awareness throughout the video, as well as his insistence that his ex-girlfriend was lying about being raped by him, left many stunned and puzzled.
“It is not the establishment’s fault that your ex lover accused you of raping her,” political consultant Micah Erfan noted.
“Narcissistic sociopath,” conservative radio talk show host Larry O’Connor said in response to Platner’s video.
Hutch, a popular lefty streamer, called Platner a “piece of s–t manipulator conman” after listening to his exit speech.
“He entered the stage lying, and he leaves the stage lying. He’s a really bad guy,” former Republican congressman Joe Walsh tweeted.
“He’s delusional enough to think this is a moment to preserve political capital and sermonize as a self-styled leader rather than his final opportunity to accept moral culpability for the crisis he has created with his poor judgment, at the very least. A coward to the very end,” read another social media user’s blistering criticism.
Veteran political columnist Ed Morrissey described the video as “the most arrogant display I’ve seen in a long while.”
“He didn’t lead a movement; he answered a casting call. His entire narrative has been a lie. And he has the nerve to cast himself as the victim here,” Morrissey argued.
Platner bemoaning that “we live in a political system that is not built for normal people” also rankled X users.
“Idk dude, most normal people aren’t accused of repeated sexual misconduct and most normal people don’t get Nazi tattoos,” Project Liberal board member Joshua Reed Eakle posted.
“’The establishment framed me for rape because I support Medicare For All’ is maybe the craziest thing this guy’s said yet,” journalist Tim Rice wrote.
Former Obama campaign adviser David Axelrod argued, “Platner built an admirable movement. But there was nothing admirable about the way he said goodbye.”
