Soap opera star and Calvin Klein underwear model Antonio Sabato Jr., a candidate for Congress in California, is under fire for participating in a movie role that shows him simulating sex with a man and for appearing nude — both of which, critics and rivals say, disqualify him from representing the Republican Party.
Sabato Jr., an early and vocal supporter of President Donald Trump, announced in May that he is challenging Rep. Julie Brownley’s (D-CA) in California’s 26th congressional district. Sabato reportedly noted that he was “blacklisted from Hollywood” because he came out as a conservative and for his support for Trump.
I will never stop loving my Country
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Thank you America for everything !— Antonio Sabáto Jr (@AntonioSabatoJr) January 16, 2018
“His behavior is inconsistent with anything I would want from a congressional leader,” Ret. Air Force Maj. Jeffrey Burum, a rival Republican in the race, told the Los Angeles Times. “It’s also inconsistent with a party which has always favored traditional family values, which do not include porn,” Burum said. He reportedly deemed the movies “pornography” and said Sabato should drop out of the race.
Sabato appeared in the movies in question, Testosterone and Deadly Skies, over 10 years ago. He played the role of a gay man in both films. The movies are not considered pornographic.
“I’ve done many movies. I’ve done things I’m proud of and things I’m not so proud of, that’s just the way any actor works,” Sabato said in response to the attacks on his past, according to the Los Angeles Times. “They don’t know what kind of congressman I’ll be, the work ethic I have.”
Sabato is not the first actor to enter politics with a controversial on-camera past. The Los Angeles Times notes:
Soap opera star and Calvin Klein underwear model Antonio Sabato Jr., a candidate for Congress in California, is under fire for participating in a movie role that shows him simulating sex with a man and for appearing nude — both of which, critics and rivals say, disqualify him from representing the Republican Party.
Sabato Jr., an early and vocal supporter of President Donald Trump, announced in May that he is challenging Rep. Julie Brownley’s (D-CA) in California’s 26th congressional district. Sabato reportedly noted that he was “blacklisted from Hollywood” because he came out as a conservative and for his support for Trump.
I will never stop loving my Country
Thank you America for everything !— Antonio Sabáto Jr (@AntonioSabatoJr) January 16, 2018
“His behavior is inconsistent with anything I would want from a congressional leader,” Ret. Air Force Maj. Jeffrey Burum, a rival Republican in the race, told the Los Angeles Times. “It’s also inconsistent with a party which has always favored traditional family values, which do not include porn,” Burum said. He reportedly deemed the movies “pornography” and said Sabato should drop out of the race.
Sabato appeared in the movies in question, Testosterone and Deadly Skies, over 10 years ago. He played the role of a gay man in both films. The movies are not considered pornographic.
“I’ve done many movies. I’ve done things I’m proud of and things I’m not so proud of, that’s just the way any actor works,” Sabato said in response to the attacks on his past, according to the Los Angeles Times. “They don’t know what kind of congressman I’ll be, the work ethic I have.”
Sabato is not the first actor to enter politics with a controversial on-camera past. The Los Angeles Times notes:
