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Entertainment
Richard Johnson

Richard Johnson: Anthony Weiner, now on radio, has ‘trouble’ explaining sexting

NEW YORK — Anthony Weiner is a former congressman and mayoral candidate, but he’ll always be known as a “sex addict.”

That’s the feeling as Weiner, who went to jail for sexting an underaged girl, attempts a comeback on talk radio.

Asked if he had come clean with his son Jordan, who is now 10, Weiner told his friend Arthur Aidala on “The Answer” on AM 970, “I have trouble explaining it to adults. Now that I’m out there dating, trying to explain to someone what the heck happened is a lot. For a 10-year-old, it’s even more complicated.”

Weiner calls his ex-wife Huma Abedin “an amazing woman” and says, “We still have a great deal of love and respect for one another.”

But Weiner admits he hasn’t always been truthful. “The lying weighs on you. It becomes part of the psychosis. You become so consumed with covering up the lie that then it becomes impossible to figure out who you said what to. It was making me even crazier than I was.”

But he’s sane now?

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The plan to close the East Hampton Airport and reopen it three days later as a private airfield has some frequent fliers upset.

Three lawsuits have been filed to stop the town, claiming it could take two years to reopen the airport.

Metal magnate Andy Sabin, who co-owns three planes and has been commuting by air for 46 years, is one plaintiff.

“If they succeed, it will be whatever the town wants,” Sabin told me. “I prefer having the federal government in charge.”

The town plans to close the airport mid-May.

Sabin, who recycles metals for oil refineries in plants from Rochester to North Dakota, has vowed to move to Florida if the airport closes down. “But we’re going to win,” he said.

The effort to remove the Federal Aviation Authority and exert local control of the airport has gained support as the population of East Hampton doubled and airport traffic increased.

“They don’t want to get on the wrong side of the billionaires who own their own helicopters and fly them twice a week,” said one pilot.

“The schleps who pay $500 to fly with eight other people will be screwed because those aircraft need go back and forth each day. Once again, the people who take their own limousines in the sky win, and the people who take the flying bus lose.”

****

It wasn’t a big part, but Broadway actor Donnie Kehr is thrilled with his role in “Inventing Anna,” Netflix’s miniseries on the exploits of Anna Sorokin, the Russian scam artist who pretended to be a German heiress.

Kehr, whose credits include “Aida” and “Billy Elliot,” plays a police detective in episode seven. After interviewing one of Sorokin’s victims, Kehr tells her, “I suggest you start a GoFundMe page and pick better friends.”

“It was a fun little thing. I did it in two days,” Kehr told me. But then COVID hit. “Two years go by and you forget it.”

Sorokin got $320,000 for her story, most of which is going to her victims and lawyers.

Kehr said he learned long ago from Christopher Walken how to stay fresh during long days on set.

“In between each take Walken would go into this room and sit down and cross his legs and close his eyes,” Kehr said. “I asked him what he was doing and he said, ‘The first thing to get tired is your eyes.’”

Lesson learned.

Kehr, who starred as loanshark Norm Waxman in both the stage play of “Jersey Boys”and the Clint Eastwood movie, is currently on the road with his “The Greatest Piano Men” revue.

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Scott Sibella, president of Resorts World Las Vegas, doesn’t want to be questioned in the multimillion bankruptcy of one of his casino’s biggest customers, Brandon Sattler.

Sattler was forced into involuntary bankruptcy by investors in his SattCom Video, which was supposed to install hundreds of televisions in casino resorts.

Fighting against the deposition, Sibella’s lawyer, Gerald Gardner said, “Scott Sibella has no personal or business relationship with [Sattler.]”

Resorts World Las Vegas, the most expensive casino in North America, has top performers playing residencies in its theater, including Katy Perry, Luke Bryan, Michael Bublé and Carrie Underwood.

****

Upsilon Gallery owner Marcelo Zimmler will open “Kaleidoscope,” a show by Italian artist Osvaldo Mariscotti, at the gallerist’s new location on E. 67th St. on Friday.

****

Belinda Carlisle of The Go-Go’s is happy her son Duke is gay. The rocker told The Advocate: “If I had a straight son, I would have nightmares about him bringing home a Kardashian.”

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