In an embarrassing move, Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz has pulled a recent campaign commercial after it turned out that the clip, which mocked rival Marco Rubio, featured an adult film actress.
Amy Lindsay, who has acted in multiple adult films such as Erotic Confessions, Carnal Wishes, Secrets of a Chambermaid and Insatiable Desires, had appeared in the Cruz campaign advert decrying Rubio as nothing more than a "pretty face."
Cruz said the mistake happened unknowingly. "It happened that one of the actresses who was there had a more colourful film history than we were aware," he told reporters.
"We would not have cast her had we known of that history."
Cruz spokesman Rick Tyler said the campaign was replacing the commercial with another one. Lindsay yesterday said she was "extremely disappointed" with the decision to pull out the commercial, but added that she has no ill will against Cruz.
"I have no ill will towards Ted Cruz right now. He's got a job to do," Lindsay told CNN's Jake Tapper on 'The Lead.' "And I'm a middle-class working girl and I had a job to do."
Cruz, who won the Republican Iowa Caucus early this month, is currently placed behind frontrunner Donald Trump in both national and South Carolina polls. The primary in South Carolina is scheduled for February 20.
Trump is leading the South Carolina race with 34.5 per cent support, while Cruz has support of 15.5 per cent, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush (13 per cent) and Marco Rubio (12.5 per cent), according to a latest poll.
Lindsay said she still plans to vote for Cruz.
"Like I said, when I did the ad and the words that came out of my mouth... I was speaking from the heart about some of the issues that I think are true problems in this country that we as Americans are facing today," she said.
Meanwhile, Trump yesterday began airing a new ad in South Carolina focused on illegal immigration featuring Jamiel Shaw, whose son was brutally murdered by an illegal immigrant.
"People wouldn't be talking about illegal immigration had I not brought it up when I announced I was running for President," Trump said.
"It is a massive problem in our country and now everybody agrees with me - bad for crime and the economy," he said.
Shaw said: "Donald Trump is the only person fighting to put American families first. He will protect our children and put an end to these senseless acts of violence that are caused by our failed policies and broken immigration system."
"Without strong borders we don't have a country... Donald Trump is a man who stands for what is right. He stands for America and I stand with him," Shaw said.
Addressing his supporters at the University of South Carolina, Trump said he is running an optimistic campaign, refuting reports that he was running a negative campaign.
At the same time, Trump alleged that it was his Republican opponents who were running a negative campaign.
"You see the negative ads now, all phony ads. Those are paid for by lobbyists that are all supporting them," he said.
