More Women Come Forward; New Condemnations
Following adult performer Stoya's public accusation and Tori Lux's blog post over the weekend, other female performers have now come forward with similar claims against male performer James Deen.
Porn star Ashley Fires has told The Daily Beast that she was assaulted by Deen in the communal showers at Kink's headquarters in San Francisco and that she witnessed what she assumes was the assault of another performer by Deen. A year following her assault, Fires claims that Deen asked her to stop telling people about the assault and to shut up about why Deen is on the list of people that she will not perform with.
An anonymous woman has told the site LAist that she was raped by Deen at a party in Las Vegas while he was in the company of Joanna Angel, back when Angel and Deen were still a couple.
Kink has dropped Deen from its performing rosters, saying in a statement:
"For the Kink.com community, as well as the larger BDSM community, consent and respect are sacrosanct. Effective immediately, Kink.com will cease all ties with James Deen, both as a performer and a producer.
"Our performers deserve not only safe sets, but the ability to work without fear of assault. Rape or sexual assault, with or without a safe-word, off-set or on, should never be accepted as a hazard of adult production. While many of the allegations against Deen are new, the pattern is alarming. Over the coming weeks and months, we will review our Model Bill of Rights to strengthen rights of performers off-set, and work with the larger industry to help performers to have been assaulted to more easily come forward."
Deen's former distribution company Evil Angel has suspended all ties with Deen, both as a producer/director and as a performer, with company founder John Stagliano saying in a public statement:
“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.”
Doc Johnson has discontinued Deen's toy line, with Chad Braverman, Doc Johnson’s COO and creative director telling AVN,:
“We are taking the allegations against James Deen very seriously and in light of the recent accusations we have decided to no longer proceed with the products that we make on his behalf.”
Deen's sex advice column on The Frisky website has been discontinued as well. CEO of the Free Speech Coalition Diana Duke issued a statement yesterday on behalf of FSC:
“The Free Speech Coalition called on James Deen to step down from his position on the Board of APAC and cease adult production unless and until he is able to adequately answer allegations of rape and sexual assault that surfaced this weekend. The allegations against James Deen are deeply disturbing . . . Since Stoya came forward this weekend, many others in our community have shared stories, publicly and privately. We at FSC and in the adult entertainment community want to make it perfectly clear, it does not matter what you do for a living, nor what you do sexually: no always means no."
UPDATED 12/2/15
Kora Peters and Amber Rayne have also come forward about their experiences working with Deen.
If you need to talk to someone about a sexual assault you have survived or if you need to talk about someone about how to best support a survivor of rape/sexual abuse, you can safely and confidentially call the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline 20 hours a day, seven days a week at 1-800-656-4673 or visit RAINN.org.