Bob Pope refutes Democratic Party press release labeling him a ‘pornographer’

Bob Pope, who was featured prominently in a GOP video on YouTube, denied claims Tuesday he is a 'pornographer.'

Gun show promoter Bob Pope, the focal point of a controversial Tennessee Republican Party video on the wife of Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama, disputed a Democratic Party statement issued yesterday labeling him a "pornographer."

Tennessee Democratic Party Chairman Gray Sasser issued a statement deriding his state party adversaries over the Obama flap.

“The Tennessee Republican Party should be ashamed of the way they have run amok in recent months, drawing unwanted attention to the state of Tennessee,” Sasser said in a written statement issued to Tennessee media. “Going so far as to use a former strip club owner to make their point, the TNGOP betrays their voter's confidence and further increases the likelihood that their deplorable attack against Sen. Barack Obama's wife will be one more national news item mischaracterizing the vast majority of Tennesseans.

“It appears that the Tennessee Republican Party would rather use a pornographer as their spokesperson than their top elected officials Senator Lamar Alexander and Senator Bob Corker,” Sasser added.

Pope’s financial interest in a Nashville strip club was documented in a 1994 story by the Chattanooga Times-Free Press and reported again by the newspaper Tuesday.

Pope, one of the Southeast's most high-profile gun show promoters, is a longtime Second Amendment activist and GOP campaign contributor. He is featured in the Tennessee GOP YouTube video that attacked Michelle Obama for statements she made about feeling “proud” about America for the first time in her adult life.

"For the first time in my adult lifetime, I'm proud of my country," Michelle Obama stated in a February appearance that created controversy for the Obama campaign.

The video has drawn international attention to the Tennessee Republican Party, and both of the state’s Republican senators – Bob Corker and Lamar Alexander – have rebuked their own state party and asked them to discontinue use of the video.

Yet, the Sasser statement uses the word "pornographer" in a reference to Pope, admitted Democratic Party Spokesperson Wade Munday.

Pope, however, when reached by The City Paper, denied ever being involved in pornography.

“I’ve never dealt in any kind of pornography,” Pope said. “I owned that club for four years in the early 1990s. That is over and finished.”

Munday said the Democratic Party was not aware Pope had any interest in producing pornography, adding, "That may not have been the best choice of words."

"Not that I know of," Munday said when asked if Pope was involved in pornography. "It's just that the industries (pornography, strip clubs) seem to be linked."