Interview: Actor Antonio Sabàto Is Running for Congress

“I came to this country from another country, and I struggled. I used to dream about coming to this country as a child, and I probably love this country more than many people who were born here.”

On February 5th, 2018, model and actor Antonio Sabàto, Jr., who gained national attention for speaking at the 2016 Republican National Convention, joined Merion West’s Erich Prince to discuss his candidacy for California’s 26th Congressional District, against incumbent Democrat Julia Brownley.

To start off, I was watching your appearance on Fox News where you discussed your difficulties in finding employment in the entertainment industry following your 2016 speech at the Republican National Convention. Can you walk us through some of the backlash you experienced?

Well, yeah. I was blacklisted. If you support the President, you’re not going to have many fans in Hollywood. There were a few people who hired me on the basis of my talent as an actor, rather than as a politician. And that’s the way it should be.

If you’re not on their side of society, on the liberal side, it becomes a very small world in Hollywood. You won’t have many friends, and that has been challenging. My mother is from Prague in the Czech Republic, and my family there experienced the fascists and the communists. I lost family in Auschwitz during World War II.

I’ve got to tell you, in this country, I’d never known this level of hate and negative feedback if you support this President. I’ve never seen anything like this in my entire life. We have to fight for our freedom and all of the things that make this country great. If we don’t, they’re going to take these freedoms away. We can’t let that happen.