AUSTIN — An article Democratic Senate candidate Beto O'Rourke wrote in college is shedding some light on some of his feelings about women during that time in his life, which the U.S. Representative has since said makes him feel ashamed.
According to a report by Politico, when O'Rourke was 19 years old and a student at Columbia University, he reviewed the Broadway musical "The Will Rogers Follies" and pegged it as an "ostentatious Ziegfield tradition" that was "little more than one boring, pointless, song and dance number after another" in the student newspaper, the Columbia Daily Spectator.
The musical highlights "the comedian and headliner of the Ziegfeld Follies" and "is told through a series of Follies-like variety acts and lavish production numbers," according to a synopsis by Playbill. However, the Tony-award winning show was apparently not entertaining for the then-teenage O'Rourke, who said the "tacky manner" in which Will Rogers story was exhibited made him feel "disgusted."
The Democratic candidate for senator, who used the byline Robert O'Rourke, wrote that the female cast members were "perma-smile actresses whose only qualifications" seemed "to be their phenomenally large breasts and tight buttocks."
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O'Rourke sent Politico a statement, apologizing for the language he used in the near 30-year-old article.
"I am ashamed of what I wrote and I apologize. There is no excuse for making disrespectful and demeaning comments about women," O'Rourke said.
Politico said they were alerted to the article written by O'Rourke in college by a person who opposes his campaign. This is the most recent recorded incident from O'Rourke's past he has had to answer for since he announced his run for Senator against incumbent Republican Ted Cruz.
Four years after O'Rourke wrote his review of "Will Rogers Follies" in the Columbia Daily Spectator, he was arrested on burglary charges in his hometown of El Paso, Texas. Those charges were later dropped. In 1998, O'Rourke was arrested again for driving while intoxicated. The Associated Press reports the charge was dismissed after he went to driver classes.
O'Rourke spoke about his DWI arrest while on the Ellen Show, calling the incident a terrible mistake. He said that fortunately, as a white man in the U.S., his arrests have not hindered his career opportunities.
"I know that if I were African American, if I had been arrested with marijuana, it might be very hard for me to then get a job." He added, " I want to make sure that everyone has a second chance."