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A Long Island Democratic congressional hopeful has made it clear in a recent interview that he is not ashamed of his past bondage modeling photos uncovered by The Post last month.
Chris Gallant, 37, the Democratic nominee running against Rep. Nick LaLota (R-NY) in the NY-01 district says he chose to pose for the racy photos almost 17 years ago because he was into it — not because he was manipulated — and he bragged that he thought he looked great, he told The New York Times.
“I mean, all my friends know I’m kinky” as hell, he told the newspaper — “except he used a much saltier word than ‘hell,’” the Times noted.
“I make Christian Grey look like amateur hour,” he quipped to the outlet, referencing the erotic billionaire entrepreneur in the bondage romance book and film series “50 Shades of Grey.”
In an explosive report last month, The Post uncovered Gallant posed for photos for “Mr. S Leather,” a San Francisco-based purveyor of leather-daddy supplies, modelling collars, leather straps and bondage gear among other things.
Other images of Gallant in Mr. S Leather gear appear to have shown up on gay porn sites that do not appear to be affiliated with “Mr. S Leather.”
The congressional hopeful’s Los Angeles and New York-based attorney Sara Azari told The Post in September that Gallant’s limited understanding with “Mr. S Leather” was “never intended to authorize unrestricted publication” by third parties.
The images of Gallant are no longer featured on the stores’ site but are still accessible in internet archives, which show they were online between 2011 and 2020.
“The photographs are authentic and were taken during a private, consensual photo session involving Chris and his then-partner, with whom he was in a committed four-year relationship,” Azari noted.
“Chris was also friends with the owner of Mr. S Leather, and the shoot was intended to be fun and personal, with the understanding that Mr. S could use select images in connection with certain products,” she said, adding the pictures “have no bearing on Chris’s record, qualifications, judgment, or ability to serve.”
Azari noted: “As Chris began considering a future in public service, he asked that the photographs no longer be used and that they be removed from the company’s website. Mr. S honored his request.”
“I just thought, ‘If my family can accept me, the world can,’ and that’s how I lived my entire life,” he told the Times for the new article.
After The Post’s report, Gallant’s campaign then launched a social ad which read: “Make Politics Sexy Again” and joked to the Times that maybe this could be his “Kim Kardashian moment.”
But he told the publication he didn’t expect his old bondage photos would have become as public as they did. “I mean, you had to go hunt for this,” he explained to the Times.
He addressed the photos directly in a social media post after the bombshell report, labeling it as “a coordinated political hit meant to drive me out of this race” and noting “I am very proud of who I am.”
Gallant told the Times the “most difficult thing was always getting my name out there or trying to improve that.”
“And there’s definitely been a name-recognition increase on the world stage,” Gallant told the publication, noting that “The Daily Show” covered his modeling photos.
Host Michael Kosta joked on the late-night program: “New York, baby, where Democrat Chris Gallant is running to represent New York’s first congressional district, and he’s getting his ass beaten, but not in the polls.”
Gallant, a Black Hawk helicopter pilot, has served in the Army National Guard since 2006, according to his LinkedIn profile — likely during the time he posed for the kinky images.
The Long Island-raised nominee also serves as a volunteer firefighter and previously worked as a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) air traffic controller, where he had been a local union chapter leader in the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA).
The Post reached out to Gallant’s campaign for comment.
