Like the passing of a particularly enormous uric acid kidney stone, Donald Trump has finally cleared a path for other famous Americans to freely piss and moan about the things they were too blocked up by “political correctness” or common decency to say out loud. For some it’s been an obvious relief—like Clint Eastwood, who’s finally been allowed to drop the careful tact for which he’s known and just straight-out call people pussies. But that’s easy to say for Clint Eastwood; he’ll be dead soon. What about the other five or six other celebrities who have come out for Trump, and how will their speaking truth to power on behalf of privilege affect their careers? Whither, indeed, Antonio Sabato Jr.?
Along with his fellow reality stars Scott Baio, Willie Robertson, and Donald Trump, Sabato Jr . was just one of the impressive Cavalcade Of Two Or So Stars who turned up to the Republican National Convention to offer Trump their endorsement. There, the Bold And The Beautiful star memorably called Trump, whose chief platforms are banning Muslims and literally building walls, the “unity” candidate, then later told ABC News he “absolutely” believes President Obama is a Muslim and is with “the bad guys.” It was the most anyone not confined to a hospital bed has ever heard Sabato Jr. say.
At the time, a bolder, more beautiful Sabato Jr. had boasted of being unconcerned with how others—particularly those in liberal Hollywood—might judge him for expressing his beliefs, shrugging “So be it” to ABC and telling Variety, “It’s my life, and it’s up to my God. It’s not a matter of what Hollywood is going to do. I sleep good at night, knowing that I’m making the right decision.” But apparently, God has decided that Sabato Jr. needs to pay. And for the man whose name loosely translates as “Tiny Saturday,” life has since become one Large Monday.
In a new, seemingly unsolicited statement to Variety, Sabato Jr. now says he’s being “attacked viciously” online and subject to “name calling,” just for saying that the President is a Muslim supervillain, and has even been taking heat from other celebrities. But although he says he’s been able to block out all of that “negativity,” and focus instead on spreading Trump’s positive message that we’re all going to be killed by terrorists, he finds it much harder to ignore the fact that people no longer want to hire him—this time for political reasons:
I was never a politician. I care about my country. I put God first. For the last seven-and-a-half years, I’ve seen this country led by a leader that’s made mistakes. I spoke my mind about it. But because I’m in the industry, you can’t talk about that. The media and the liberals act the way they act: The will back up the president until the end. It’s been interesting. I’ve had fantastic directors who have said officially to my agents and managers they will never hire me again. They will never even see me for projects. That’s unfair. It’s just like Communism.
We’re in the business. You’re supposed to be hired based on your talent and abilities, not because of how you feel about politics or religion. But that’s how they do things. It’s not just me. I know a lot of people in the industry who are in the same boat. The reality is if you’re associated with the Republican Party, the casting directors and producers already blacklist you based on that. I know people that just showed up, they didn’t speak – and they are not getting work because of it.
Graciously, Sabato doesn’t take his stance against Hollywood Communism to its logical, McCarthyist conclusion by naming names—either those of the “fantastic directors” who, alas, will now have to settle for Lorenzo Lamas, or those within his fellow, Great Silent Character Actor Majority. But one look at his IMDb page confirms he must be telling the truth: Sabato Jr. was once a highly in-demand underwear model-turned-actor, with meaty roles in movies opposite today’s hottest stars—like Mark Wahlberg and Lou Diamond Phillips, in 1998’s The Big Hit—and on popular series like Melrose Place, Earth 2, Melrose Place, Charmed, and Melrose Place.
Yet something happened at the turn of the millennium that can definitely be attributed to politics. He’s since been limited to playing characters like “Handsome Guy #1” in The Three Stooges movie and small parts on shows such as The League, Castle, and Rizzoli And Isles. The vast liberal conspiracy against Antonio Sabato Jr. is so all-powerful and all-consuming, sometimes it’s limited him to working in as few as three or four basic-cable procedurals or shitty straight-to-video comedies a year. These are lean times, in which Sabato’s been forced to scrape by making reality shows where he dances for his supper and fixes up houses, as well as apparently renting out the front page of his website to provide legal advice.
And yet Sabato (who also believes Democrats are exploiting Khizr Khan’s dead son “for their own benefit”—he just wants to make sure and mention that, in this article about why he’s a good man who doesn’t deserve to be shunned) still has faith that God and Trump shall provide. “I will keep fighting for what I believe, and I will keep looking for work. My work and my life is based on God,” said the star of Balls To The Wall and the VH1 dating show My Antonio, adding, “I feel strongly about the fact that Donald Trump is going to win. I think he’ll be elected in November.” And when he does, at last this blacklist will be lifted, and Antonio Sabato Jr. will once more be judged on his talents alone.
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