Antonio Sabàto Jr., the “family values” Republican from California accused of having a gay “porn” past, says he’s “not ashamed” of the work he did in the ’90s and early ’00s.
Sabàto is a former underwear model and actor turned political hopeful. He, along with several other Republicans, is currently running for U.S. Congress against incumbent Democrat Rep. Julia Brownley in California’s 26th district.
Earlier this week, Sabàto’s primary opponent, Jeffrey Burum, accused him of appearing in gay “pornography” and called on the 45-year-old to suspend his campaign immediately for spitting in the face of “family values.”
Related: Straight GOP candidate outed for gay “adult film” past, says “That’s just the way any actor works”
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The “pornographic” films included 2003’s R-rated Testosterone, where Sabàto plays a gay Argentine who disappears under mysterious circumstances, and 2005’s made-for-TV Deadly Skies, which has a TV-14 rating for its gay sex scenes and nudity.
(For the record: None of the films even remotely qualify as gay porn.)
Some of Sabàto’s other “risqué” credits include Bad Girl Island, Balls to the Wall, and Wasabi Tuna, as well as the reality show Celebrity Wife Swap. And in 2013, he was the spokesman for AnastasiaDate, a dating site that connects North American men with women from Eastern Europe.
“That was a different time in my life, but as actors, we do roles that are pushing the envelope,” Sabàto told The Jesse Lee Peterson Show on Thursday. “You want to show off your acting ability, and you want to test your chops, and that’s what I did.”
He went on to say that every working actor has taken a few roles (or in Sabàto’s case, a few dozen roles) that they didn’t particularly love. It’s just part of the game.
Related: Donald Trump’s Supreme Court Shortlist May Have A Secret Gay Porn Past
“We don’t do every single movie that we’ve proud of, it’s just the way it is,” he said. “But I’m not going to see here and say, ‘I wish I did this or I did that,’ I mean that’s part of my career as an actor.”
Sabàto, a staunch Trump supporter who still insists Obama is secretly a Muslim, went on to say that his opponents are only using his film past against him because “they’re scared of me.”
“It’s just they’re trying to pull all this stuff against me because when you’re attacked as much as you can see with our president,” he said, “it means you’re doing something right.”
Watch the full interview below.
Donston
He really didn’t defend his gay roles. Instead, he settled for, “I did what I had to do because I was trying to get work and stay relevant”, and he said nothing remotely “gay-positive”. Like so many he’s “gay friendly” and “gay positive” when it suits them. At this point, like every politician, he’s trying to cover all his corners. But let the Californians worry about this mess.
And in case some nitwits once again didn’t bother reading the article, it’s his GOP opponents who are trying to use his resume against him not the Dems.
ChrisK
The way you counter some idiot is not by saying you were disgusted by it too but you had to do it because you’re an actor. So basically he’s saying he’ll will do anything as long as it pays. What a f*cking idiot and do*chebag.
ChrisK
Also funny that republicans like Jon Voight, Clint Eastwood, Arnold Schwarzenegger havn’t been blacklisted.
scotshot
You obviously didn’t read the same article as we did.
If the outcry was from any LGBTQ it would been in support of him.
ChrisK
Ok I give up. Tried to comment 4 times and Queerty is in blocking mode.
Paco
Funny he thinks he was blacklisted. He was hired for his pretty face, not his acting. No more pretty face, no more jobs. Now he wants to live off the tax payers as a politician.
DCguy
What a shock, a party that hates lgbt people doesn’t like lgbt people.
Waiting for Mo Bros multiple screenames to come in here screaming about Hillary’s e-mail to deflect the topic.
DarkZephyr
Oh dear lord. Trump is being attacked so much because he “must be doing something right”. Lol. Apparently there’s never any backlash when somebody consistently does terrible things again and again and again. There’s only ever backlash when they do wonderful and great things.
Paco
Republicans have to try and twist reality to fit their fantasies, rather than accepting that reality doesn’t fit their fantasies.
Kieran
No homophobe would ever be caught dead playing a gay role. I think that’s the point his opponent is apparently trying to make: “Antonio is NOT a homophobe, but I AM.” Good luck with that.
Donston
That’s a rather naive, borderline dumb thing to say. There are a few of actors throughout the decades who have said homophobic things but have played gay roles. There are plenty of people who have appeared in gay porn but have said extremely homophobic things. There are of plenty of gay and gay-leaning people who have said and done homophobic things. What you’re willing to do for money and who you have sex and/or relationships with- none of that has much to do with your prejudices or who you have respect for. Finally, I think his opponent is trying to lean on the idea that Sabato is a hypocrite and fake family values guy, not that he is personally is a homophobe and Sabato is not..
That whole little post made you sound stupid and extremely biased. In fact, you and aliases have said particularly dumb and biased things as of late.
Kangol
Donston’s right on this. To give one example, John Voight is a right-winger who has supported homophobes, and he played one of the most famous gay-bi leaning roles of all time, hustler and gigolo Joe Buck, in the X-rated Academy Award-winning film Midnight Cowboy. It’s in the library, check it out.
Xzamilloh
He’s on Jesse Peterson??? Oh, for f*cks sake.
CanadianGuy62
Either Sabato has terrible English skills (and the author should be using “sic” at least a few times) or the author is horrendous at spelling.
Nahald
I don’t believe this guy is a republican at all. Most of them are Christians and would NOT make a gay film. That would be “sinful”.
ChrisK
Whatever you say Jaxton.
Donston
I’m thinking they’re being sarcastic. It has to be sarcasm, right?
GayEGO
Hey, he did what he did, and he does not make discriminatory comments about gays, at least he is not homophobic!
Donston
Are people really naive enough to think people aren’t homophobic because they played gay in a movie? I’m not saying he is, but it seems some think that if you know some gay people, are willing to work with gay people, indulge “gay culture”, etc. then that means you’re not homophobic. There are openly gay people who are homophobes.
ferraria
Not ashamed of his past? I should hope so. He should be ashamed of his present.
Herman75
Which office has he held in the past? What are his qualifications? He has a lot of the rhetoric down. I’m curious, when these guys talk about how the Constitution has been changed is that a veiled comment about marriage equality?
queermason
Why should he be ashamed of this past? Whats wrong with being a gay candidate? family feud questions
Captain Obvious
The last big role he had was a Tatiana Ali video. I don’t care how he votes.
Tombear
According to the GOP you can do pretty much anything morally reprehensible except love a same sex partner. See Trump for the example!