Screenshot via Pornhub
A third-party candidate running for Manhattan's 12th Congressional District fucks, and wants everyone to know it—to the point that he’s uploaded a 13-minute video of him having sex with an adult performer to Pornhub, in what he claims is part of his campaign strategy. Mike Itkis, a 53-year-old Army cyber operations officer who is running on a “sex positive” platform, can be seen in several positions and two different locations with performer Nicole Sage. Neither Itkis or Sage immediately responded to requests for comment. The video, titled “Bucket List Bonanza,” was uploaded to Pornhub under Itkis’ name, three months before New York news outlet City & State first reported on the stunt on Friday. In the video, Itkis doesn’t mention anything about his run for office or his politics. It’s been viewed on Pornhub more than 4,000 times, and has been uploaded to other free porn sites.“If I would just talk about it, it wouldn’t demonstrate my commitment to the issue. And the fact I actually did it was a huge learning experience, and it actually influenced items on my platform,” Itkis told City & State. “I’m very much an introvert. I’m kind of a nerd who doesn’t like to be the center of attention if I can avoid it. But I thought the issues I’m trying to address are so important… I wanted to have my issues talked about in some way.”According to his website, Itkis wants to decriminalize and legalize sex work (workers in the industry overwhelming want, and are already working toward, decriminalization), “define consent,” and “Make sexual rights explicit – do NOT rely on privacy or free speech rights.” He also believes “men should not be required to support biological children without prior agreement,” a fairly clear-cut and regressive attack on child support alongside relatively progressive stances on abortion.We’re in an era where politicians will, and have already, had videos released and strucinitzed of them from their pasts that might not have been for public eyes. We’ve also seen more politicians, especially in New York, take up the cause of supporting sex workers’ rights. It’s unclear whether Itkis’ attention-grab falls into either of these categories, and is anything more than a political stunt.