A US politician drank from a bottle of chocolate sauce and went viral - but here's the real story

Rep. Kent Calfee might not be a name known to many people but a bizarre image of him drinking from a bottle of chocolate syrup has turned him into a viral star.

As Gov. Bill Lee delivered his second State of the State address to the General Assembly in Tennessee, Calfee was snapped taking a swig from a Hershey's chocolate syrup bottle.

Now we've all had the desire to literally drink from one of these things but doubt even the most confident person would be as brazen to drink from a chocolate syrup bottle in public, let alone at a major political address.

But that is exactly what the lawmaker did and many people had questions after The Tennessean's Natalie Allison said that this is something that he "often does."

Other's could identify with Calfee and his apparent indulgence.

The truth behind the matter is actually much more wholesome than the picture would suggest.

Speaking to Time, Calfee explained that he and his wife are both farmers and advocates for recycling.

My wife and I are farmers, so we believe in taking care of the earth and recycle everything. When you have grandchildren you can’t run out of ketchup, ranch dressing or chocolate syrup.

Calfee added that there wasn't actually any chocolate syrup in the bottle and it was just water, which his wife convinced him to use rather than fork out for an expensive water bottle.

[She said] you know that’d make a good water bottle. I’m not going to pay $40 for a water bottle that I might set down and leave somewhere.

Although not all the message that were posted about the image were mocking Calfee he is concerned about the effect that these type of comments can have.

We’ve had some awful rude comments. Social media is great thing, but it can be a deadly thing too.

HT Time

More: 10 reasons why chocolate is actually good for you and you should be eating more of it​