Christopher Lee

If you’re a married congressman, it’s probably not a good idea to send shirtless photos of yourself to women you encounter on Craigslist. New York Congressman Christopher Lee found that out the hard way after a woman he’d exchanged flirtatious emails with—including the shirtless one—outed him on the gossip website Gawker. In the emails, 46-year-old Lee portrayed himself as a divorced father and lobbyist seven years his junior. When Gawker posted his deceitful exchanges with the woman—Yesha Callahan—on its site Feb. 9, Lee resigned, leading mainstream media outlets across the country to pick up the story. But in the black blogosphere there was particular buzz about the Lee scandal when word spread that Callahan, whose identity was initially kept secret, is African American.