Adult film star (and Lindsay Lohan co-star) James Deen has been hailed as a feminist and as porn's "boy next door," but over the past few days a much more troubling persona has emerged. As Vice reports, a number of porn stars have accused Deen of rape and assault:
- The firestorm started on Saturday when Stoya, an adult-film star who also dated Deen, tweeted, "James Deen held me down and f---ed me while I said no, stop, used my safeword. I just can't nod and smile when people bring him up anymore."
- Another porn star and ex of Deen's, Joanna Angel, weighed in the following day: "He's dead on the inside and dead to me. He's literally the worst person I've ever met. That's all I'll say for now #solidaritywithstoya."
- The next day, actress Tori Lux published an essay on the Daily Beast describing how Deen allegedly attacked her on set, as others stood by, after she refused to "sniff his testicles."
- Another actress, Aurora Snow, also wrote a Daily Beast article Monday—and though Snow says she's had good experiences working with Deen, she talks to two other porn stars who have a different view. Sydney Leathers says she was warned away from working with Deen by Angel years ago, while Ashley Fires says he "almost raped" her, assaulting her as she got out of the shower one day.
- Also Monday, a writer told LAist that, while covering the Adult Entertainment Expo in 2009, Deen raped her at a party while he was dating Angel.
Deen—whose Twitter feed includes its fair share of rape jokes—denies the allegations, tweeting that the accusations are "false and defamatory." Porn star Kayden Kross had something to say about that: "If six women say it, does it stop being defamatory and start being a conspiracy, or at that point is it just true?" she tweeted. Sources close to Deen tell TMZ that he believes his aggressive on-screen persona is getting confused with his real-life persona, and it's noted that nothing has been reported to police. (Many of the accusers, as well as those writing about the situation, say that's out of fear of making waves in an industry Deen rules, and also because it's hard for sex workers to get assault accusations taken seriously.) Even so, the fallout has begun: BuzzFeed reports that at least two porn companies have suspended relations with Deen; The Frisky has dropped his sex advice column; and Deen resigned Monday as chair of the board of directors of the Adult Performer Advocacy Committee, a porn actors' labor group. (More James Deen stories.)
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