Kelsey Grammer to play politician on TV, disputes potential mayoral run

Kelsey Grammer may be playing the mayor of Chicago in his new Starz show, “Boss,” but the actor says a report that he might make a real-life run for office is a work of fiction.

An August story in the New York Post wrote that the “Frasier” star “says he plans to run for office, perhaps right here in New York, when he gives up acting.” While the article itself didn’t mention a mayoral run, the title bar on the Web version of the Post story stated, “Kelsey Grammer wants to run for NYC mayor when he’s done acting.”

But the 56-year-old TV vet now says it’s simply not so, telling ITK, “It has never been the plan. I mean, I have had a plan in my head for years that maybe once I’m done as an actor I might try to seek public service in some capacity. I do not know why the guy from the Post decided to say that I was running for mayor. That is untrue.” The Post didn’t comment by press time.

Saying he “wouldn’t rely on any story you’ve read anywhere else as being the truth,” Grammer predicted, “The New York Times is going to write that I’m running for president in 2020, which may have been something I said in an interview in 1997, which I suppose is possible, but it’s not part of my game plan at this moment.”

The entertainer, who backed Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in the 2008 presidential election, didn’t want to make any comments about the current crop of Republican candidates. But Grammer did disclose that maybe the political drama would be better suited for the small screen than real life: “I think we’re in a desperate time in terms of politics, but we have been for some time … But honestly, I wish [the political parties] would try to take smaller bites out of each other for the sake of keeping a little continuity.”

“Boss” premieres Oct. 21.

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