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(Clarification: A spokeswoman for Brazzers called to say the model in question didn’t work for that site but for another related site, Mofos.com. She added the company is based in Luxembourg, not Montreal.)
A male porn star based in Miami may have tested positive for HIV, and is alleged to have had sex on camera with up to a dozen female co-stars without condoms during the time he was infected. According to a press release from the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, the model worked for Brazzers.com (link NSFW). The porn network, which includes more than a dozen pornography sites, is based in Montreal, Canada Luxembourg but films several of its scenes in Miami-Dade.
For years the American porn industry was based largely in Southern California, and a number of laws and industry-imposed regulations, including mandatory testing, have sprung up to protect performers. The rise of internet porn has caused the amount of porn filmed in South Florida to flourish in the past decade. However, the local industry is far less regulated than California’s.
Though the model tested positive and worked in Florida, the news has caused California’s porn industry to completely shut down. The Free Speech Coalition, the California-based adult industry trade group, has agreed to the production stoppage.
Here’s AHF’s press release:
In response to the latest reported HIV case in the adult film industry — thought to be the 23rd industry-related HIV case since 2004 — AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) will host a press teleconference today, Wednesday, August 31st at 2:00 PM Pacific Time to announce the filing of a ‘sanitary nuisance’ health complaint with the Florida Department of Health and a similar letter of complaint with federal OSHA officials against Brazzers, the adult film production company widely reported as the company where the infected performer was employed. Industry sources say the male performer involved had worked directly–and without condoms–with as many as a dozen female performers.
While most mainstream gay pornography companies mandate the use of condoms, condom use is rarely seen in straight porn. AHF claims that the mandatory testing of adults models is not enough, and is lobbying California politicians to pass a law requiring the usage of condoms in all pornography. However, many in the adult industry say that would only lead to more production in places like Las Vegas and Miami.
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