Democratic Burbank, California, Mayor Konstantine Anthony found himself at the center of a storm during a city council meeting on Tuesday.
The furor stemmed from a video from a fundraising event, in which Anthony is seen being spanked by a drag queen.
This footage from the event revealed Anthony, who assumed the mayoral role in 2022, bending over a table. A drag queen then proceeded to slap the mayor’s rear end with a paddle. Behind the drag queen is a small decoration of the “poo emoji.” Sitting at a table adorned with the rainbow “Pride” flag, a geezer in Jimmy Buffett-esque attire gazes on, his facial expression appearing grim at the sight before him.
“There were some shenanigans, some silly stuff happened, it was all fun and games,” Anthony said in response to the release of the video. “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 in question was a “Drag Queen Bingo” fundraiser, organized by the Santa Clarita Valley Democrats. This detail emerged from a Facebook post that promoted the event.
“I come from a very silly performance background,” Anthony said during 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 later added. “I think that is still hard for any elected official to do. But I’m having a difficult time with it.”
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