The porn industry knows many female stars, some venture into mainstream media. Male actors rarely get to stardom, which shouldn’t come as a surprise given the fact that traditional porn normally limited the screen time for male faces to a minimum. While that is changing right now there are only three big-name male porn actors: James Deen is today’s superstar, before him, we had Rocco Siffredi. And before Rocco Siffredi, there was only one famous man in porn: Ron Jeremy.
This legendary man, ranked Nr. 1 in AVN’s »50 Top Porn Stars of All Time«, stands accused of inappropriate touching during several events and conventions organized by Exxxotica. Maybe that wouldn’t have been big news one or two years ago. But the times are changing. After big sex scandals within the media industry ultimately ending the bigger than life careers of superstars like Bill Cosby, Bill O’Reilly, and Harvey Weinstein, maybe the porn industry is starting to contemplate what is appropriate and professional behavior in an industry that constantly blurs the lines.
Trouble for Jeremy started in June when Cam Girl Ginger Banks posted a video on YouTube talking about several claims that raised some attention but largely passed without consequences. Now in the wake of the Weinstein scandal, the allegations resurfaced and got echoed by additional allegations against the actor.
Apparently, Exxxotica didn’t see any other choice and pulled the plug on Ron Jeremy on Monday. The Twitter account of Exxxotica posted »As of right now and moving forward, Ron Jeremy will no longer be appearing at any of our events.« That tweet was quickly followed by another one: »He will not be at our events or host hotels in any capacity. Period.«
Ron Jeremy was quick to react. In an interview with AVN, he commented: »If I’ve offended anybody I feel bad. I’m not in great shape. I’m old and I’m chunky but there’s still women who drive great distances to see me at these events and a lot of them or their boyfriends request a booby signing. If I ever made a mistake and misread or misjudged what I was doing, then I apologize.«
He continued the interview by trying to make light of the situation, a potentially risky move given the current atmosphere surrounding harassment allegations: »In all fairness anybody who’s ever been in the booth with me knows that I get grabbed more than the girls do, but I’m a guy and I happen to like it. I’ll stand by my record in general alongside anybody else’s. I’ve never gone to jail, never beat anybody, never had any [district attorney] take any case against me.«
The more he talked the more combative and boosting he became: »The living proof is my face. It’s never been punched and there’s mostly boyfriends in line with their girlfriends and wives. If I was being too forward or too stupid I would have more black eyes than a panda bear. But that never happens. I’ve never been punched out by a boyfriend ever in my 30-some odd years and I’ve signed thousands of boobies.«
So far porn actors remained largely immune to allegations like this. James Deen’s career is still flourishing even though there have been many claims against the actor in the past. And in all fairness, it is difficult to objectively judge upon harassment charges in an industry where the casting couch is a staple in every third movie or so and actors and performers are expected to be sexually explicit all the time as part of their profession.
Wow. Seriously? The allegations go very far beyond “signing boobies.” The complaints have been coming in for a minimum of 10 years that this person sees no problem with sticking his fingers up any random civilian or porn chick’s pussy whenever he feels like it — without consent! — and loves to do so in public situations where they are less likely to respond as they would wish, with a swift kick to his famous dick. That isn’t even counting the mush earlier reports of sexual assault/harrassment . . . .
This last paragraph “And in all fairness, it is difficult to objectively judge upon harassment charges in an industry where the casting couch is a staple in every third movie or so and actors and performers are expected to be sexually explicit all the time as part of their profession” is not only inaccurate but part pf the problem when an adult entertainer comes forward with charges of abuse. There is no difficulty in telling the difference between sexual acts that are consented to and paid for as part of the performer’s job and random sexual acts that they gave no consent to be involved in. Acting “sexually explicit” is not an invitation for anyone to do anything without first asking for full permission.
Additionally, the “casting couch” may be a fictional trope, however it is not accepted as the standard in adult entertainment. Unlike mainstream, the adult end of entertainment pays actors to have sex, not expects them to have sex for the chance to get paid.
Totally agree with this:
Additionally, the “casting couch” may be a fictional trope, however it is not accepted as the standard in adult entertainment. Unlike mainstream, the adult end of entertainment pays actors to have sex, not expects them to have sex for the chance to get paid.