In my recent post, "Next To Me: About Black Gay Porn", I mentioned being interviewed for a piece in Next Magazine. Well, the article was recently featured in their Sex Issue. While I was happy with the parts of what I said that the author Dustin Fitzharris used in the piece, there were some things that I must address.
For starters, for me personally I HATE the fact that I was referred to as "...African-American..." I don't hold Dustin responsible for this, for I never made it clear to him. But my reason for my being against that term is because I am not. I don't give a rat's ass about using the term that is considered "politically correct". The fact is I am a Black man. The term "African-American" puts something on me that if I did not OK it, I do not accept it ---LIMITATIONS. And the reason I am not OK with it, therefore don't accept it is because I have a known ethnic background of African/Native American/Venezuelan heritage and God knows what else, and I LOATHE the term "African-American" because it erases the presence of that mix. Some traits of which are very obvious to those who are aware of differences in hair-grade, skin tone, and bone structure based on ethnicity. And if I went to Africa right now, they would not accept me as African because of those differences, and rightfully so.
Now, for the other things I must address, they come from the others who were interviewed. All of whom I GREATLY disagree with and am appalled by what they have said. Starting with the likes of mixed Randy Blue model, Micah Brandt and the website's talent coordinator, A. Bee.
Randy Blue may have 3 Blacks on contract, but that doesn't change the fact of how there is racism that both of these people deny. To give the reasoning that they gave for the shortage of Blacks in gay porn by both Micah Brandt and A. Bee shows them to be one of 3 things:
a)2 bonafide dumbasses,
b) 2 blind mice, or
c) 2 mice pretending to be blind to the writing on wall by kissing their boss' ass saying obvious untruths to keep them employed, which leads them back to being Choice (a). In short, SELL-OUTS.
As always, I will explain how this is so.
Micah Brandt said in the article, "Maybe they have to prove a little bit more than other people that they deserve to be where they are, but I feel the industry is pretty good about giving everyone their chance.”
Micah Brandt's stupidity is shown in this statement because the FACT is that if there was no racism, there would be no reason for Blacks to prove themselves anymore than Whites. The FACT that they must go that extra mile is THE PROOF of how there is racism.
It's pathetic when someone, especially a person of color refuses to admit to the racism that is happening right before his/her very eyes. So that not only applies to Micah Brandt, it also applies to Randy Blue's talent coordinator, A. Bee, a Black lesbian who in the article says, “Most black guys will tend to go to black sites because that’s what they know”.
Now referring to women in the manner I'm about to is something I normally deplore, but when the shoe fits, I will make you wear it. For that statement is the beginning to show how A. Bee's initials of "A.B." should stand for "Asswipe Bitch". Because that statement shows how she has buried her face so deep in Randy Blue's ass while kissing it that she has allowed the shit stuck on Randy Blue's ass to blind her to the truth. That truth being that so many Blacks apply to Black sites because what they truly know is that if they want to be in porn, that is the best chance they have. For I am a prime example of this.
I NEVER wanted to work for a site like Pitbull Productions, or consider an alliance with sites like FlavaWorks and Chocolate Cream where most of their models foolishly associate maintaining their "blackness" with coming up with "thug names" instead of names that can be thought of as actually being real. But after countless tries to contact more "mainstream" companies and false promises made by some of them, sites like Pitbull and FlavaWorks is what I was exiled to having wanting me, and keeping a relationship with. And I'm sure that I am not the only Black gay porn performer with such a tale to tell. And so NO ONE can use it as an excuse, let me make it clear that this was BEFORE I started speaking out on the racism in the industry. In fact, that is what provoked my speaking out.
A. Bee also says in the article, “It also comes down to where you live and your upbringing. A lot of black people have strong family ties and feel like they could never do something like this.”
The idea of Blacks having stronger family ties, while an admirable trait, it is used as the common scapegoat excuse for porn companies reasons for not hiring Black models. Randy Blue and Michael Lucas are just 2 of many examples. But A. Bee is another figure at Randy Blue whose so-called point can be ripped apart. Because the fact is that if Blacks have such strong family ties, then why are there so many Blacks in the porn industry, even if they are (some exiled to partake) in ethnic porn?
Also, my family ties are quite strong and my family have long been aware of my being in porn. And I’m sure I am not the only one. Therefore, all of these porn companies need to stop using “Blacks’ strong family ties” as an excuse. So this post is my grenade of truth to stick in these liars’ asses so that they’re are ripped a new hole so that all the bullshit that they are talking falls out without blockage.
And stick one in Michael Lucas as well.
Michael Lucas is famous for putting a spin on things...when it serves him. So much so that the many weak-minded will believe that he makes a good argument. Such as his claims of how he knows for a fact that Blacks are more homophobic. He needs to make his viewpoints born from the narrow-mindedness of his kept lifestyle kept quiet.
Blacks are no more homophobic than any other ethnicity. The fact is that Blacks are more honest about their homophobia, than maybe Whites and Latinos. And the reason Blacks are more honest about their homophobia is because it is not as profitable for Blacks to hide their homophobia or internalize it the same way it is for Whites and Latinos to be dishonest about theirs. Case in point, you have White CEOs of companies who display homophobia, then change their rules over fear of losing the profit coming from the large amount of "gay dollars", that they are probably calling "faggot dollars" behind our backs. Also you have an overload of "gay-for-pay" themed websites featuring White and Latino males, which is obvious internalized homophobia. Need I bring to your attention names like Wolf Hudson, Kurt Wild and Jeremy Bilding. Wolf Hudson who claims to be straight started out with the blatino porn company, Big City Video, while Kurt Wild and Jeremy Bilding are Whites who both at one time or another for Michael Lucas. While Kurt Wild is now (thank goodness) retired, Jeremy Bilding uses the name "Ryan Driller" in his straight porn work. Whether it's Bilding or the video company that advised the name changing between gay and straight porn, it is still a White person's homophobia that won't allow him to use the same name for both orientations of porn.
A concern of mine with the article overall is that I don’t feel that not enough Black porn actors were interviewed. If so, some of the things I addressed in that piece and in this one would have very much more than likely be confirmed. Instead making a piece about the lack of Blacks in gay porn start and end with Michael Lucas makes Next Magazine look like they were bought off to give Michael Lucas a platform to act like the god who is working to save gay porn that the typical American gay male has made him out to be. And believing such misconceptions of him being so great is another way of how the typical American gay male is his own worst enemy.
To make clear my reason for suspecting Next Magazine of being bought off is because Michael Lucas has been allowed to write for Next Magazine before, meanwhile I have emailed Next Magazine MANY blog posts addressing social issues within the LGBT community, and I have been repeatedly overlooked, until now. Some may say that I should take what I could get. I’m sorry, but I can’t be silent without taking Next Magazine and others to task. Because the LGBT community is in crisis and unable to progress due to the in-fighting over issues like racism, ageism, and even sexism kept silent by the gay media. And this one whisper, while highlighting good strong points that I made, still made me out to be a minority within a minority, which doesn’t do justice to the many Black members of the gay community. Therefore, it doesn’t do justice to ALL members of the gay community.
It is for these reasons that I left the gay porn industry. But to see my meaningful stands are pushed aside for Michael Lucas’ superficiality in not just Next Magazine, but other publications as well, it makes people question, “Why be gay?” Why be gay when your statement of depth gets swept under the rug to make room for someone who buys their way into voicing superficiality? Why be gay when such actions make Janet Boynes from “Our America with Lisa Ling: Pray the Gay Away?” look like she knows what she talking about by condemning being gay? Why be gay when my video addressed to Janet Boynes’ perceptions about gays goes unnoticed by all the gay media outlets that I tried contacting?
The fact that I fear asking myself such questions that I’m sure others are as well is why I have moved on the way I have. With such annoyances giving birth to my poetry series, “The Industry”, which led to my upcoming appearance at The Rainbow Book Fair this Saturday. So with the lemons I’ve been given, I am making some fuckin’ GREAT lemonade. But it doesn’t lessen my concern this article ignites as to who the heads of gay media give a platform to, …and why.
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