Antonio Sabato Jr. — the heartthrob actor turned Republican congressional candidate — is defending the risqué R-rated movies he has made over the years, telling Newsmax TV he has never been afraid of taking chances.
"That was a different time in my life, but as actors, we do roles that are pushing the envelope," Sabato told Thursday's "The Jesse Lee Peterson Show." "You want to show off your acting ability, and you want to test your chops, and that's what I did."
"Everybody has done it. We don't do every single movie that we've proud of, it's just the way it is. 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."
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Sabato has been under fire from some conservatives in California's District 26, which he hopes to represent on Capitol Hill, for his appearances in films like "Testosterone," a 2003 drama in which he plays a gay man and performs in passionate love scenes, and the 2006 sci-fi thriller, "Deadly Skies" in which he and actor Michael Boisvert play military men who are lovers.
"Testosterone" is rated R for sexual content, language and some drug use, while "Deadly Skies" has a TV-14 rating for sex and nudity.
The former Calvin Klein underwear model has also appeared in such mature R-rated fare as "Bad Girl Island," "Balls to the Wall," and "Wasabi Tuna."
Ret. Air Force Maj. Jeffrey Burum, a Republican also in the race to unseat Democratic Rep. Julia Brownley, told the Los Angeles Times that Sabato's "behavior is inconsistent with anything I would want from a congressional leader. It's also inconsistent with a party which has always favored traditional family values, which do not include porn."
Sabato has slammed the description of his work as X-rated.
He told Peterson: "I've done a lot of stuff that I'm really proud of, and also the fact that I came from another country and I succeeded in show business, that to me was incredible and so I'm still in the business.
"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, it means you're doing something right. They're scared of me.
"Once I get in Congress in November, there's a lot of work to be done. We only have two years to get things done before the next election. So, I'm eager to do it. I have the energy and the ability to do it, and I'm going to do it for the American people. I can't wait."
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