New York Post | Antonio Sabato Jr

WASHINGTON — Actor-turned-GOP congressional candidate Antonio Sabato Jr. called White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders being asked to leave a Virginia restaurant an “unfortunate” incident — but said he was personally used to that kind of treatment.

“She’s a lovely lady and it’s disgusting,” Sabato told The Post on Sunday as he attended a Virginia Women for Trump event at the Trump International Hotel in DC. “And I know more than anybody else because I’ve been through it and I’m still going through it.”

During his brief appearance onstage at the event — which was a high tea meant to celebrate the president’s June birthday — Sabato said he was “blacklisted,” just like Hollywood folk thought to be communists in the 1940s and ’50s.

“When I went to Cleveland and spoke for our president, as I came back, my agent, my managers were all gone. I had jobs lined up, they were all gone,” Sabato said.

Sabato and Scott Baio were the two Hollywood types who spoke in support of the now-president at the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio.

Pointing to the incident Friday night, in which the owner of the Red Hen in Lexington, Virginia, asked the White House press secretary to leave, Sabato said, “I have the same treatment.”

“For me, from when I came back from Cleveland, that was it,” he told The Post. “That woke me up. It was communism all over again. You know, they’re not allowing us to speak our minds, to express how we love this country and it’s unfortunate.”

Sabato said there are “many people” in stereotypically liberal California who support Trump, but most keep their fandom quiet.

“I know them very well and they’re very scared and they care about their paycheck and they care about working in TV shows and movies and they don’t want to jeopardize that and I totally understand that,” he said.

Sabato decided to take a different route, running for a congressional seat in Ventura County, California. Earlier this month, Sabato advanced to the general election for the seat, coming in No. 2 in the primary, which moves the top two voter-getters regardless of party onto the ballot for the general election.

The Democrat, Julia Brownley, had more than double Sabato’s support.

Still, he remains hopeful.

“This seat in my county is a winnable seat, guys,” he told the crowd Sunday. “And we’re going to win it. We’re coming together.”

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