Porn Companies, Brands, and Blogs All Break Ties With James Deen
They’re backing away, but not all are completely cutting the cord.
Amid accusations of rape from James Deen’s former girlfriend and co-star Stoya, major brands are distancing themselves from the man who is widely celebrated as one of the most popular porn stars of all time. After Stoya’s allegations on Twitter, other members of the adult film industry, such as Joanna Angel, came forward either voicing support, or corroborating her claims with similar stories of their own incriminating Deen.
He’s dead on the inside and dead to me . He’s literally the worst person I’ve ever met . That’s all I’ll say for now #solidaritywithstoya
— Joanna Angel (@JoannaAngel) November 29, 2015
Now-retired Tori Lux announced her own accusations of assault on set. Ashley Fires similarly tweeted a message of support, and then told the Daily Beast, “The reason I put him on my ‘no list’ was because he almost raped me.”
And beyond personal statements, the porn industry writ large seems to be taking a stand of their own. According to Vocativ, Kink.com and Evil Angel are both cutting ties with Deen. This will include ceasing production on any future or in-production projects. “For the Kink.com community, as well as the larger BDSM community, consent is sacrosanct. Effective immediately, Kink.com will cease all ties with James Deen, both as a performer and a producer,” Kink told Vocativ.
Toy companies like Doc Johnson are also cutting ties, scrapping plans to make a dildo modeled from his measurements, Slate reports.
The Frisky, for whom Deen was a resident advice columnist, made the decision to pull all of his columns from the site.
But what does this all mean for the hundreds of videos featuring Deen that are still circulating on sites like Kink.com and Evil Angel? Maxim reached out to Kink.com and asked about the future of the previously existing footage, to which a representative replied, “Right now, we’re ending our business relationships going forward,” perhaps implying that his archival footage will go untouched. As of this writing, dozens of his clips still appear on the site.
In the same vein, Evil Angel also won’t produce anything new with Deen. President and Founder John Stagliano told Maxim, “In light of the recent accusations against James Deen, Evil Angel today has decided not to sell any newly created scenes featuring Deen. While our company presents what is consensual and exploratory about aggressive and rough sex, these accusations are of a nature so contrary to our company values that we feel it necessary to suspend the sales until more information is available.”
Maxim will update this post with any future developments.
UPDATE: On the future of existing scenes featuring Deen, Evil Angel responded with an acknoweldgement of the revenue he generates for the company, but a reminder of the other industry professionals who would be affected by removing his work: “We are continuing to derive some marginal income from previously shot scenes, but we don’t feel it would be correct to make this policy retroactive and punish our other producers for prior casting choices.”
On Wednesday, two more adult film stars, Amber Rayne and Kora Peters, gave statements to the Daily Beast indicating that Deen had also violently assaulted them while on filming on set.
Photos by Elisabetta A. Villa / WireImage
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