British right-wing candidate tries to turn porn-star career into political plus
John Langley's 40-year career as an adult-film actor is "nothing that I'm ashamed of in any way, shape, or form," the U.K. Independence Party (UKIP) candidate tells the BBC's Paul Barltrop. Langley, who makes pornographic films under the stage name Johnny Rockard, is running for a city council position in Bristol, England, and his populist, right-wing, anti-European Union, immigrant-wary party was aware of his past, and fine with it.
Not only is Langley proud of his porn career, he also thinks it is a political bonus — at least for some voters. "People who are UKIP voters, who like UKIP, like us because we are not the beige, bland, boring career politicians that they see," he told Barltrop. "You know, I have a life — people can see I have a life." Voters appreciate "dealing with real people," he added, "not people up there at the top of politics who are so far removed from them. They're dealing with ordinary people like myself." When Barltrop pressed the point, Langley shrugged off the fair point that porn stars aren't "real people." Watch British politics in action below. —Peter Weber
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