In the Adams Report, printed in Gay Chicago Magazine dated November 8, 2007, there is a controversy regarding bareback versus condoms. According to the article, the David Awards were handed out in Berlin back in October, and several nominees and recipients were from bareback gay porn films, with the Best U.S. Studio award going to Treasure Island Media. But the real story began when Chi Chi LaRue went onstage to receive her/its award for Best U.S. Director and let it be known that she/it was duped into attending an "event glorifying bareback." Yet, she/it took her/its trophy, only to return it later "in protest." The gentleman who accepted the award for Treasure Island answered with a resounding "Fuck you, Ms. LaRue!"
Kudos, that.
Since the ceremony, LaRue and others have denounced the David Awards for tying their awards to advertising support and for honoring studios that produce bareback films. Keith Webb of Titan Media claims he had every intention of denouncing the awards while accepting a Lifetime Achievement Award on behalf of Bruce Cam, but "they did not even have the decency to allow me onstage to voice our opinions and to politely refuse to accept the award..." He goes on: "In my opinion, the entire event was a setup meant to showcase and promote bareback films and was the most biased and poorly produced awards show I have ever attended. The event was an embarrassment to the entire gay adult industry and I am sad to say we were even represented."
Webb claims that the list of nominees had not been circulated. I wonder how he knew what awards his company was up for. "It appears that this year's list of nominees were kept from us and other nominated studios in an apparent attempt to conceal the amount of bareback films and studios being nominated," he goes on. "Had we been informed of the fact that the vast majority of nominees were bareback we would not have supported or attended the event."
Sam Dixon, VP of Tipo Sesso and 1 Distribution (producers of both condomized and bareback films) noted that the nominees WERE printed in the magazine so "no one can say they didn't know bareback was included in the nominations."
He goes on: "I still have yet to wrap my head around the logic of these companies who find it all right to sell pre-condom classic films and simultaneously denounce bareback companies. If you are selling bareback, you are selling bareback, no matter when it was filmed. You are portraying the same image. Last I checked, we were all in business to do business, not have a personal soapbox."
Chi Chi LaRue has been perhaps the most vocal detractor of bareback films. Looking at the facts, I wonder who pockets the cash made from the re-release of "pre-condom classics" from such studios as Falcon and Jocks. Certainly not the actors. Not their families or estates. I guarantee LaRue gets the cash from the sale of each unit. After all, these films were made when the term bareback still meant riding your horse without a saddle. And weren't several of LaRue's early films bareback? Isn't that a strange dichotomy?
LaRue claims to be concerned about the health and welfare of her/its models/actors. I find this highly doubtful, since the shelf life of her/its Falcon boys is about four to eight movies and then forced obscurity, unless, as one model has written, you continue to "blow the fat pig under her dress." And if she/it is so motherly about her performers, and cares so, so deeply, why does she/it have them work as escorts for as long as the movies are selling (and she/it takes 90% of their trick earnings)? If she/it is so worried about the safety and well-being of her "boys," why is Joey Stefano dead? In viewing many bareback films over the course of the past few years, I have yet to see one that didn't come with a clear and precise disclaimer about the content, and the actor/model's knowledge of what he is performing.
Ironically, LaRue has taken two performers from extremely popular bareback films and placed them in her own - Brent Corrigan and Brent Everett, both of whom got their starts in bareback films. And, I understand, Miss LaRue has two more twink boys she is soon to promote who started in bareback. Incidentally, I find it frightening that Brian Kocis, the head of Cobra Video, the company the two Brent's began with, was hacked to death and set afire in his own home soon after LaRue "took" these boys...
Recently, I read a blurb online from a young, gorgeous twink named Kyle Ryan as to why he turned down Chi Chi LaRue's offer to work for Falcon. He said, "I didn't want to become one of her drugged-out zombies."
Kudos, again.
I think the thing being glossed over here is the fact that bareback films sell - and sell well, and Chi Chi is upset/jealous. Yes, Falcon is the industry standard for ripped, shaved, posed, preening sex-gods in repetitive vanilla sex scenes. More and more bareback is coming (pun intended). A look at the top selling videos from RadVideo shows that at least nine of them are bareback, which I think puts things into perspective.
It was also interesting to note in the Adams Report article that LaRue is pissed that her/its videos don't sell well overseas, and that the same holds true for the United States. I begin to think this is why she/it is so upset - the bareback industry is eating into her/its profits. Well, if that is the case, stop putting out dreck and make real, honest to goodness, good old fashioned gay porn. I remember the days when I could go to the video store and rent the latest release, and be guaranteed a good time - two guys with a couple of beers and a joint would go at it for the camera and make good porn. Now, since everyone is a "model," the films, especially from Falcon, Jocks and Mustang (companies Chi Chi holds sway over) downright suck. Sure, the guys are among the hottest in the industry, but, if porn is supposed to be a fantasy alternative, the last thing I want to see is two guys who are obviously not into each other and can't wait to finish and collect their cash. Besides, it's hard to enjoy a Falcon film when all the models seem to be sniffing and snorting an awful lot. Cocaine drip, anyone?
Two performers who I know personally, one intimately, the other as a business client, have performed in Falcon films under the dictatorial rule of La LaRue. They have both said the same thing: she/it is a bitch, a liar and a massive coke-addict, and she provides lots and lots of drugs for her "boys," the same ones she is "worried" about. And if a performer has trouble getting it up for a scene, no fluffer is needed - Chi Chi has a steady supply of Viagra. Nothing but the best for her boys, eh?
So the bottom line is this: bareback porn sells and sells well, and it is here to stay. Miss LaRue is pissed because her empire is slowing to a screeching halt (after all, she owns at least 50% of the U.S. gay porn market), her profits are down and her product is becoming no longer viable. I enjoy bareback as well as condomized porn. Titan Media's films, with their burly muscle men turns my crank, as does Raging Stallion's hunks (by the way, Michael Brandon started in the pre-condom days), but I also watch Eurocreme movies (they do both bareback and condomized films under different company names, usually with the same models), and Cobra Video, former home to Brent Corrigan, now a Chi Chi LaRue exclusive under his new name of Fox Ryder, and Brent Everett.
If you don't like bareback films, DON'T WATCH!!!!!!
For Chi Chi LaRue to badmouth bareback films, producers, creators, models, etc., then turn around and employ them is downright two-faced. And to release pre-condom films and reap the benefits and monetary gain from it is, again, ghastly in its own right. The performers in bareback porn make their own choices. I have yet to see a movie where a loaded gun is pointing at their head while they fuck condomless.
Who appointed Chi Chi LaRue the arbiter of standards in an industry that only pretends to have standards? If there was a vote, I demand a recount.
This, of course, is just my opinion...
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