'Castle' Star Jon Huertas on His 'Sex Tape' Stunt

By Nicki Gostin Posted Jul 4th 2011 04:20PM

Marketing yourself, it's the American way! Actor Jon Huertas, who plays Det. Javier Esposito on ABC's 'Castle,' recently pulled quite a stunt to publicize the single 'Sex is the Word,' his new recording.

To rev up fans, the actor-musician recently concocted a faux "sex tape," and got his 35,000 Twitter followers into a tizzy before he released what was actually a super-sexy music video. The versatile New Yorker, 41, has an interesting background: He's a U.S. Air Force Special Ops vet, who served eight years in the military before launching his show biz career. Huertas spoke to PopEater about his so-called "sex tape," why he got kicked out of college and what he thinks of the war in Iraq.

Tell us about the video for your single.
Originally, I was going to do a video that was a throwback to 'Grease,' but then, because my album is called 'Sex Tape,' and every one of my songs has its roots in sex in some way, I decided that it would be smarter to have the video be a little bit more about sex.

Was anyone pissed when they realized it wasn't a real sex tape, but actually a promo video for your single?
I think some girls [among my fans] were a little disappointed, but they ended up forgiving me quickly. Everybody knows me as an actor. I wasn't going to complete my album unless people were interested. So far, I've gotten nothing but positive response, so I'm going to finish my album and release it at the end of July. It's urban pop. It's a combination of rock, pop, R&B and hip-hop.

Did the "sex tape" create the publicity you wanted?
I went on Twitter and started an argument between me and a character I created, whose Twitter name was "South Belle," to see if any [blogs] picked up on it. And it exploded. What was funny was that I thought I was going to make my fans want to see this sex tape of mine, but it had the opposite effect. Everyone wanted to back me up, and said, 'We're not going to watch the tape!' which was not what I was hoping for. What I had to do was....I said: I'm not going to take a negative attitude to the sex tape, I want to see it. So then everybody flip-flopped.

You were in the Air Force.
I worked in special ops. I worked in the nuclear weapons program. We got deployed during Desert Storm. I went over to Iraq, Colombia. I went to Austria, England, Italy and Spain.

How did you become an actor?
I wanted to be an actor since I was in the second grade. I used to get in trouble a lot in my elementary Catholic school. One day, the most awful, mean nun who everybody was afraid of shoved me out of class and told me to go to another room. I thought I was in trouble. They gave me a song to sing, and when I finally sang my song on stage, I looked to the wings and the awful, mean nun was wiping tears from her eyes. At that moment I said, 'I got to do this.'

So why did you join the Air Force?
I was going to college, and I don't want to say I was kicked out, but I was asked not to come back.

Um, that's kicked out.
Yeah it is, isn't it? I had a partial scholarship, and I lost it.

Wait a second. Why did you get kicked out?
They said I had disciplinary problems. I've got this hero complex. Whenever someone smaller or weaker is being picked on by someone bigger, I step in. There were a couple of times on campus where I got into physical altercations. I would take on the big guy. I got kicked out and went into the military, because I didn't have any other means of paying for college. I finished my degree [but] it took me eight years because of the deployments.

Are you happy troops are being withdrawn from Afghanistan?
I am happy. I like peace, even though I'm a trained soldier. I hope nobody ever has to use their skills.

Do you think there should be troops in Iraq?
Absolutely not. I think the Iraq war was the wrong war. I never agreed with that war. I support the troops, the troops aren't the ones declaring the war, they're doing their job. I definitely think the war was the wrong thing to do. I thought it was the right thing to when we first went into Afghanistan. But now that we've cut the head of the chicken by killing Osama Bin Laden, and all the intelligence we collected from his house, I think we can start withdrawing our troops and have Afghanistan govern their own country.

See the ultra-steamy video for 'Sex Is the Word' (featuring a melody sample from 'Grease Is the Word') on the actor's website, or listen to Huerta's vocals on a tamer video that a 'Castle' fan created for the single:

Tags: castle, jon huertas

Comments

(15)

Monday 04 July

By bigD

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Wow, for a chubby guy with a big nose and dance skills limited to circular neck girations, he sure has a lot of confindence. Oh and did I mention his "song" was already a hit when it was released 30 years ago? Changing 'grease is the word' to " 'sex' is the word" is hardly reason enough to re release the exact same song. Totally unoriginal and no talent. He should have called it Guido is the word.

By Dee

I like Jon Huertas on Castle and think he is a sexy guy. But this video is almost laughable. the part where he has whipped creme all over his face and is singing is very funny and the part where the girl has her hand shoved against his face is too.

By lor

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be still my 75 year old heart. sighhhhhhhhh

By desiree seifert

ya must be pretty desperate for media attention IF you post your own sex tape!! and who really cares....IF ya seen one ya seen em all!! this guy needs to get a life!!

Tuesday 05 July

By Sally

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Did you even read the article? There is no 'sex tape' but an album with that title and a fake publicity stunt sex tape. The video itself is an over the top cliche-ridden satire of sex tapes.

That said, nice voice but horribly overproduced song and the video just gets tedious. I'll listen to another song or two before I make a final decision on him because he does have a nice voice when you can separate it from all the overproduction.

By MacD

I think he is HOT, he can park his shoes under my bed anyday.

By Ben

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Is he illegal? He's not a Puerto is he?

By castlefan

hmmm, "sex tape" misleading if you ask me. nicki, please don't use "p*ssed" in your interview. it doesn't sound professional, & folks might report you to aol tos department.

Wow. It only took you 9 words you show your multi-leveled ignorance.

And, for the record -- Puerto Ricans are American citizens and have been for over a hundred years.

By hello kitty

Pathetic. He probably actually scared most away.

By smith

the record -- Puerto Ricans are American citizens and have been for over a hundred years. BIOS Driver

By jimall3

Ben you're from Israel aren't you? Are you illegal?

By Josee

The song is really silly, the video on his site is really lazy/boring (no creativity - just rolling around in bed, we haven't seen that in a million other videsos?)...He should really stick to acting.

By sterve

YUM

Tuesday 01 November

By Sooz in SF

Jon is foxy as hell

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