You can take the man out of the porn performer but you can’t take the porn performer out of the man.
FRANKFORT, Ky. — Action-film actor Sonny Landham has lost his role as the Libertarian Party’s choice for a U.S. Senate seat in Kentucky over inflammatory comments he made about Arabs.
The party’s executive committee withdrew the endorsement of Landham yesterday, and Landham and state party Chairman Ken Moellman called the parting amicable.
Landham said he still hopes to reach the November ballot as an independent candidate.
The party said it had collected more than enough signatures to get Landham on the ballot, but Libertarian officials distanced themselves from him after his anti-Arab remarks.
Landham routinely used offensive terms in referring to Arabs and said last week that Arabs should be blocked from entering the country.
Landham made the comments on “The Weekly Filibuster,” an Internet radio program on politics, then repeated them the next day in an interview with The Associated Press.
Landham also said President Bush should have ordered massive airstrikes against several Middle Eastern countries in retaliation for the 2001 terrorist attacks against the United States.
“We have agreed to disagree on the statements made, and that is why we are parting company,” said Moellman, who called the remarks “offensive and contrary” to the party’s principles.
Landham stood behind his remarks in an interview yesterday.
“My views are still the same,” he said. “I make no apologies for them.” But he said he held no grudges toward the Libertarian Party.
Moellman said the decision to sever ties with Landham means the Libertarians won’t field a candidate against four-term Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell and Democrat Bruce Lunsford, a Louisville businessman.
Landham said he hopes to use the signatures already collected on his behalf as the presumed Libertarian candidate to get on the ballot as an independent.
But the Kentucky secretary of state’s office was unsure if he could do that.
“We would have to legally research whether that is a viable option,” said Les Fugate, spokesman for Secretary of State Trey Grayson.
Landham appeared in adult films early in his acting career before roles in such movies as “48 Hours” and “Predator.”
This isn’t his first foray into politics. He flirted with running for governor as a Republican in 2003, left the GOP and promised an independent run. He ultimately stayed out and supported Republican Ernie Fletcher, who won.