LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – An alleged photo of Congressman Anthony Weiner's genitals hit the Internet on Wednesday after conservative watchdog Andrew Breitbart shared it with a pair of radio DJs who then tweeted it to the masses.
Breitbart had said repeatedly he had no intention of releasing the photo unless the embattled politician launched a "jihad" against him.
"I'm not releasing it. I can't think of any other publication that wouldn't," he reiterated on XM Sirius' "The Opie & Anthony Show." "I could probably get a gazillion hits off my page -- I'm not doing that to him and his family."
But the two radio hosts goaded Breitbart into showing the photo -- via his cell phone -- to them and some staffers, as well as actor Vincent D'Onofrio, who was also an in-studio guest Wednesday. Breitbart claimed Weiner had sent the photo to "a gal down in Texas."
After Breitbart left the studio, the Opie & Anthony crew, according to their tweets, used footage from their in-studio surveillance camera to grab a still photo off Breitbart's phone screen. Gawker published the uncensored photo, which does not include Weiner's face or any other clues that it is him.
As Opie and Anthony passed Breitbart's phone around, Breitbart is heard saying: "Don't show it anywhere," instructions that were apparently ignored.
Breitbart didn't return phone calls or emails from The Hollywood Reporter, but he told Fox News Channel that he was "mortified" by the photo's release and the behavior of Opie (Gregg Hughes) and Anthony (Anthony Cumia).
"This is the first time that someone surreptitiously grabbed a photo of it," he said. "This is a complete breach of our arrangement that the photo would not be made public. It was a complete violation of trust."
Breitbart has been making the rounds on TV and radio to discuss his role in the Weiner debacle. Breitbart a week ago published on his various websites a lewd photo tweeted by the Democratic congressman from New York to a college woman, though he withheld, until now, the allegedly more incriminating photo of Weiner.
Neither Opie and Anthony nor Sirius XM responded to queries from The Hollywood Reporter, but Opie tweeted about the episode throughout the day. He acknowledged he tried unsuccessfully to take a picture of Breitbart's phone screen. He then tweeted: "Wasn't until @AndrewBreitbart left the studio that we realized what was captured on our video camera."
His partner Anthony issued a press statement that reads, in part: "I want to make it clear that Andrew Breitbart had no knowledge that this photo was being made public. A phone with the photo was being displayed and a camera in the studio caught it. It was then uploaded to Twitter, again, without Andrew Breitbart's knowledge. I regret that this occurred."
The embarrassing revelation of probably the most explicit among the photos Weiner has been sharing with women online comes the same day several news outlets are reporting that Weiner's wife, 35-year-old Huma Abedin, is pregnant with the couple's first child.
The New York Times said that Abedin, an aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, headed to Africa on Wednesday with Clinton and that the State Department wouldn't confirm her pregnancy.
