Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, speaks during a Faith and Family Presidential Forum at Bob Jones University, Friday, Feb. 12, 2016, in Greenville, S.C. AP Photo
WASHINGTON, United States鈥擱epublican presidential candidate Ted Cruz has pulled a campaign ad after it turned out the clip, which attacked rival Marco Rubio, featured a softcore porn actress.
The commercial for Cruz, a champion of the religious right who won the Iowa caucus last week, seemed rather innocuous as far as vicious campaign ads can sometimes go.
READ: Ted Cruz wins Iowa Republican caucus
It showed disappointed members of what was supposed to be a support group calmly discussing how they had been betrayed by conservative candidates who become moderate once elected.
In a dig at Cruz鈥檚 telegenic rival Rubio, one of the women in the circle advises another voter: 鈥淢aybe you should vote for more than just a pretty face next time.鈥�
READ: Ted Cruz embraces supporters on fringe of Republican Party
The actress playing that woman is none other than Amy Lindsay, best known for her softcore porn roles in such films as 鈥淏everly Hills Bordello鈥� and 鈥淧rivate Sex Club.鈥�
The Daily Caller news website was the first to point out the actress鈥檚 questionable resume, after the Cruz ad aired Thursday.
The campaign quickly removed the commercial featuring Lindsay, who says she is a Cruz supporter.
鈥淭he actress responded to an open casting call,鈥� Cruz campaign spokeswoman Catherine Frazier told The Daily Caller.
鈥淪he passed her audition and got the job. Unfortunately, she was not vetted by the casting company. Had the campaign聽known of her full filmography, we obviously would not have let her appear in the ad.
鈥淭he campaign is taking the ad down and will replace it with a different聽commercial.鈥�
An 鈥渆xtremely disappointed鈥� Lindsay responded on Twitter, stressing that 鈥�#myvotecounts.鈥�
鈥淚 think this is politics as usual. It was done in a snap moment. Someone has got to make a decision and sometimes it鈥檚 just better to take it down,鈥� she later told CNN.
Although she had not known which Republican the ad was for when she auditioned, the self-described conservative said she 鈥渒new that it was something I could get behind and support.鈥�
The actress, who said Cruz was still in the running for her vote despite pulling the ad, told several US media outlets that she had never been featured in hardcore pornography, but has appeared in a number of mainstream films.
鈥淓ven though I鈥檓 a softcore actress, I鈥檓 voting conservative and Republican鈥� I couldn鈥檛 do a Hillary Clinton commercial for all the money in the world,鈥� she told The Washington Post.