Why Does an Ex-Congressman Make a Cameo in a Promo for Andrew Keegan's New Religion?
Dennis Kucinich was surprised to see himself, too.
This image of former Rep. Dennis Kucinich was part of a promotional video for Andrew Keegan's spiritual movement, Full Circle.
The Internet this week has been all over the fact that ‘90s heartthrob Andrew Keegan – probably known best for playing the pretty boy in “10 Things I Hate About You” – has started his own religion and church called Full Circle in Venice Beach, California. Vice was first to the story of Keegan and his cohorts, chronicling the group’s “advanced spiritualism” in a profile in August. Other outlets took notice this week.
Vice’s story included Full Circle’s promotional video, a short advertisement that shows Keegan and his cohorts singing, worshiping, dancing and … listening to a talk by former Rep. Dennis Kucinich?
Kucinich, when contacted, was surprised to see that he had a cameo in the video because he didn’t remember ever speaking to such a group. In fact, the former Democratic congressman from Ohio hadn’t a clue who Keegan was. “I don’t know anything about any of that,” Kucinich says, chuckling. But then the known liberal – who’s a vegan, vehemently anti-war and for hemp legalization, but apparently not into new age spiritualism – realized where Full Circle got the footage.
You see, in May, Kucinich and his wife Elizabeth appeared at a campaign event to support their friend Marianne Williamson, a spiritual teacher running for retiring Democratic Rep. Henry Waxman’s California congressional seat. (She lost.) The May 10 event just happened to be at Keegan’s church's location. “It was her political event that was happening inside there,” Kucinich says. “It was no connection to any religion at all.”
Having now seen the video, Kucinich says he didn’t plan to complain. “If I took the time to ask for me to be taken out of every video that I didn’t necessarily agree with, I’d be spending the rest of my life doing that,” he says.
But he also paid the church, and its video producers, a compliment. “The video was well-done,” he says. “It was an interesting video. And I was surprised to see myself in it.”
