Journalist Scott Powers tweeted this photo of the closet he was kept in.

"Scott - You have our sincere apologies for the lack of a better hold room today," said Biden spokeswoman Elizabeth Alexander in a written statement to Orlando Sentinal journalist Scott Powers.  The statement went on to read: “A hold room, however, should not be a storage room. This was the unfortunate mistake of an inexperienced staffer and the Vice President's office has made sure it will never happen again."

The incident in question happened last week, when Biden made a speech at a $500-per-spot event for Senator Bill Nelson and Powers was ushered by a “low-level staffer” into a closet, only allowed out to listen to the official speeches.  When he tried to leave the room to interview attendees or ask when he would be let out, he was told to return to the room and continue waiting.

The incident has drawn commentary and criticism from major news outlets, including The Guardian.

Powers, for his part, has tried to downplay what happened. 

“Take a couple details of information, toss them into the Internet and it can become like a child’s game of telephone — with each rendition adding spin and details,” he wrote in his account of what happened on the Orlando Sentinel site.  “Only in this politically-charged environment, those spin and details can crystallize toward scandal.”

One blogger wrote that “Yes, Biden's journalist-in-the-closet caper is a big bleeping deal.”

Some fellow journalists have criticized Powers’ passivity in allowing himself to be contained in a closet instead of standing up for his rights.  Al Jazeera journalist Gregg Carlstrom tweeted: “Biden's staff tells a journalist he needs to stay locked in a closet, and the journo goes along with it.”

Powers seems ready for the whole ordeal to be over.  He tweeted on Monday: “hoping ClosetGate has run its course,” while reminding his followers that “one point overlooked in outrage over my wait for VP Biden: reporters often get treated much worse.”