Democratic Burbank, California, Mayor Konstantine Anthony responded during a city council meeting on Tuesday to the backlash raised by a video of a drag queen spanking him at a fundraising event, according to a recording of the meeting.
A video taken at the event showed Anthony, who became mayor in 2022, bent over a table as a drag queen slapped the public official’s rear end with a paddle in front of an audience. Anthony defended his actions as “silly” and called criticism of his actions “the most vile hate speech” he had ever seen, according to a recording of the meeting.
“There were some shenanigans, some silly stuff happened, it was all fun and games,” Anthony said at the meeting. “Unbeknownst to the people in attendance, there was a secret video that was made and then shared to a very prominent hate group.”
The event Anthony attended was for a “Drag Queen Bingo” fundraiser hosted by Santa Clarita Valley Democrats, according to a Facebook post advertising the event.
“I come from a very silly performance background,” Anthony said at the meeting. “To me, what is goofy and normal, to other folks seems inappropriate. That’s not their fault. That’s mine. I need to learn that line.”
“I need … to understand that what I personally see as my role and my duty and my job is not the same as what everybody else sees,” he said. “I think that is still hard for any elected official to do. But I’m having a difficult time with it.”
Anthony did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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