US lawmaker goes viral after shirtless Zoom meeting

A lawmaker in Minnesota has gone viral on social media for briefly appearing shirtless while casting a vote on a Zoom call.

As he voted "yes" during a legislative session, senator Calvin Bahr appeared to be in bed with a photo of a children's cartoon as his background.

The Monday meeting was live streamed on YouTube.

A clip of Mr Bahr's Zoom mishap was then shared widely, gaining millions of views.

The Minnesota lawmaker has not yet commented on the incident.

As he cast his vote lying down in bed, his Zoom background featured a picture from I'm Just a Bill, a segment from the 1970s children's cartoon Schoolhouse Rock!.

Mr Bahr could then be seen quickly turning his camera off.

On Twitter, some lauded Mr Bahr's meeting ensemble as a "mood", while others criticised him for not bothering to get out of bed to vote.

Mr Bahr has been serving in public office since 2016, when he was first elected as a Republican member of the Minnesota House of Representatives.

In 2022, he was elected to the Minnesota State Senate.

Mr Bahr is not the first Minnesota lawmaker to go viral on social media for a Zoom mishap.

In February 2021, Republican congressman Tom Emmer appeared as a floating head upside down in one Zoom meeting, drawing laughter from his colleagues.

"You're upside down, Tom," one colleague informed him, to which Mr Emmer responded: "I don't know how to fix that".