‘Christian Grey’ of ’50 Shades’ runs to replace Reichert

A 29-year-old Democrat who bragged about how his ex-girlfriends thought he was similar to the character Christian Grey from the kinky “50 Shades of Grey” series is running to replace retiring Representative Dave Reichert. But now the candidate is running from the comparisons he embraced, pretending he’s a victim of bad reporting.

RELATED: Congressman Reichert will not seek re-election

Back in February 2015, Brayden Olson found himself highlighted in a Business Insider piece where he “claims many women have reached out to him because they think he is the real-life Christian Grey.” Olson is the entrepreneur behind Wilhelm Enterprises.

Twenty-seven years old at the time, Olson “told Business Insider that a few years ago a woman he dated pointed out over lunch that he was similar to Grey. He had not yet read the book series, but over time more and more people started making the same association,” he said.

Olson claims women have flown out to Seattle to meet him and even bragged to “Business Insider” that the vehicle he drove at the time was “definitely a Christian Grey type of car.”

But this wasn’t the first time he talked up his comparison to Grey. In January of 2015, he told Seattle Refined that he was inspired by Grey because “he’s a great example of what a young businessperson can accomplish and I like challenges.”

Now that Olson is running for Congress, not only is he trying to ditch the comparison he flaunted, he’s blaming the media for embarrassing and depressing him.

“From that moment on I lived in a cave,” he told The Stranger’s Rich Smith, talking about how he reacted to the “Business Insider” piece. “I spent a couple days not sleeping. I didn’t respond to any other reporter. It was terrifying.”

He didn’t live in a cave. He embraced the comparisons. But, at the time, he wasn’t thinking of running for office. These are clearly comments made by a bro in his mid-20’s with no intention of running for public office. He’s now embarrassed and wants to make sure those comments don’t hurt him. He should relax.

Saying dumb things in our 20’s is not a big deal. It’s a shared experience. Does he come off as a tool in the 2015 videos? Yes. So what? Why play the victim and hide from his past when it won’t hurt him?

No one cares about these comparisons in 2017 and it has zero impact on his race outside of a week or two of some media coverage. Embarrassed? Laugh it off and move on but please — PLEASE — don’t play a victim unless you’re just looking for a spanking for being such a bad boy a few years ago?

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