When as many as 10 women accused one of porn’s leading megastars of sexual assault, the world took notice. A handful of entertainment companies even publicly cut ties with the accused, James Deen. Some of his co-workers supported him, unable to reconcile the accusations with the person they knew, while other performers attested that they too had witnessed the darker side to porn’s “boy next door.”
In the midst of this, important conversations about boundaries, consent, and workplace safety began to happen within porn. This was a conversation everyone agreed was needed. Change seemed inevitable.
But that conversation seems to have died out—at least publicly.
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One year later, XBIZ and AVN, porn’s two biggest awards shows, have given James Deen and his company, James Deen Productions, a combined twenty award nominations—including the coveted “Male Performer of the Year,” one of the industry’s most desired honors. Many of his accusers saw this as business as usual for Deen, with the industry favoring star power over character, and refused to revisit the subject over a year later when contacted by The Daily Beast.
Not all, however. When asked how she felt about Deen’s upcoming nominations, porn actress Kora Peters, who accused Deen of raping her on-camera, found it “disturbing” and called the news a “slap in the face,” especially around her birthday. Former adult performer Tori Lux, who penned an essay that first appeared on The Daily Beast accusing Deen of striking her multiple times before “forcing my face into his crotch several times before shoving me to the floor,” worried that Deen’s interview “undermined what everyone was accusing him of,” and declined to comment further. Neither Stoya, Deen’s ex-girlfriend who first accused him of rape, or Joanna Angel, another former flame who echoed her allegations, were interested in commenting. Ashley Fires, however, is one performer still willing to speak out. Last November, she disclosed to me how she’d “almost been raped” by Deen and did not hesitate to respond again, keen to remind the industry about what she claims he did to her. “We need to keep this conversation going,” says Fires. “Forget whether or not you believe me—the broader message is workplace safety. Creating a space where performers feel they have a voice to speak up when they don’t feel safe without fear of reprisal. How many years was Bill Cosby accused of sexual assault before people believed the countless women who bravely came forward to say they had been raped?” asks Fires.
Shifting the focus from Deen to the porn biz at large, Fires admonishes XBIZ for rewarding an accused serial rapist while claiming to be a leader in the adult industry. “I guess they have a pretty warped view of what leadership really means,” says Fires. “A leader provides safe work environments. A leader makes decisions to cut ties with liabilities. A leader believes women.”
Alec Helmy, founder and publisher of XBIZ, sees it differently. “He's bounced back because, legally speaking, he remains an innocent man,” says Helmy. “The fact that he’s an outstanding performer with a tremendous following has a lot to do with it as well, of course.”
When contacted by The Daily Beast, James Deen says that he maintains his innocence. “I’m James Deen forever. That’s why I didn’t pursue any defamation charges,” he says. “Every attorney I spoke to said it’s the sex workers curse. There’s no way to get a jury of your peers or people that will understand. I feel like the media didn’t do their due diligence and distorted the facts. How can I say [to a jury] these stories about rough crazy sex hurt my career? They’d just look at some of my scenes.”
Deen’s perceived sense of things not returning to normal might be hard for an outsider to see. Despite the numerous sexual assault allegations a little over a year ago, his work has remained steady—and even he acknowledges that he continues to perform in the same number of scenes as he did prior to the eye-opening accusations.
“When I hear news, I still feel you’ve gotta believe the victim but there is due process and you have to see what comes of it,” adds Deen. “My default to this day is to believe women but now I’m a little more interested in hearing every detail of the story.”
A number of his accusers, however, have been revictimized by the porn industry’s acceptance of Deen, and how they’ve showered accolades on him this awards season.
“In the past year the adult industry has done little to prove legitimacy,” says Ashley Fires. “United around defending their First Amendment rights while in the same breadth not agreeing on what defines consent or taking concrete actions to create a safe workplace. It’s times like these that we turn to our industry leaders for, well, leadership.”
