Lauren Boebert breaks down when the debate moderator asks her about the “Beetlejuice” incident

Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert probably rues the day Tim Burton came up with the idea of ​​a fast-talking fright master. Without that film, there would have been no musical adaptation; and without that adaptation, she would never have had the opportunity to grope her date at a performance of the show in Denver last year.

But unlike Michael Keaton’s titular ghost with most, the Beetlejuice Groping is the story that just won’t die. In fact, it was revived Thursday night during a televised Republican debate in Colorado – with devastating consequences for Boebert.

The congresswoman, who represents Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, is currently vying for her party’s nomination in the 4th District, a rural and more Democratic-dominated enclave of the state. And while her national name recognition far exceeds that of her opponents, proving a boon to her campaign’s coffers, it also means she was the only candidate on stage to be criticized for her penchant for vaping and loudly singing along to musicals in darkened theaters.

“Do you want to talk about the theater thing?” Channel 9 debate moderator Kyle Clark asked Boebert after one of her opponents brought it up.

“Uh, sure,” Boebert said. “Well, Kyle, I – I definitely admitted, uh, I admitted that I spent a night in Denver.”

What’s particularly notable is that after Boebert was forcibly escorted out of the theater last September, she only pleaded guilty to “laughing and singing too loudly.” It was only after Channel 9, a Denver station, obtained and released surveillance footage showing the full extent of her disruptive behavior that she “confessed.”

“Um,” Boebert continued at the debate, “and you know, I have apologized publicly and I’m grateful for the grace and mercy that has been shown to me. But I’m not going to continue to live in shame and let it get me down. And you know, I would like to go back to my past.”

However, Clark was able to corner the congresswoman.

“I just want to make sure. Did you apologize for the behavior that occurred between you and your date?” he asked, pressing on as she tried to interrupt him. “Or – excuse me – or did you apologize for lying to voters about your behavior that night and for the disrespect you showed to service workers that night? What specifically did you apologize for?”

Boebert stammered that things had been “taken completely out of context” and denied that she had “given anyone the middle finger,” as the surveillance video of her being thrown out of the theater clearly shows.

“I think it was very misrepresented,” she said. “Um, I apologize to you, Kyle Clark, for making a video and releasing it and people seeing it in a very private moment.”

The lawmaker then tried to turn the tables, ranting that Clark had spoken in a recent podcast interview about “how disgusting it is to record someone without their knowledge.”

The moderator finally interrupted her in the middle of her rant, thanked her, and turned back to the other candidates, who spent most of the rest of the hour-long debate attacking Boebert in one-on-one combat, criticizing her record in Congress, and pointing out how little legislation she had passed during her time in office.