Sue the Bastards!
How did we get here?
For fans of porn DVDs like moi, it’s illuminating to occasionally revisit those who came before us and put their freedom on the line to make images of people having sex legal. While even the most kinky obscure sexual practices are instantly viewable with the click of a mouse now, it wasn’t always this way. The 1973 Miller vs California case which ultimately went to the supreme court, relaxed the legal definition of obscenity from ‘utterly without redeeming social value’ to ‘must have some serious value’. Maybe the justices discovered that a raging boner does have serious value…at least to its owner. The SCOTUS also specified that the 3 part test for obscenity was to be applied to the ‘community standards’ of where the adult material was sold. As fascinating as it is to watch old white people try and codify carnal nastiness, there have been other, more entertaining obscenity cases along with a handful of downright weird lawsuits. Here’s a few:
Blame Larry Flynt
Hustler publisher Larry Flynt was sued many times under obscenity statutes as he expanded his porn empire and pushed the limits of what was deemed acceptable. He won some and lost some spending millions in the process. But by far the strangest case was the defamation lawsuit by evangelical pastor and head of the Christian lobbying group Moral Majority – Jerry Falwell. A 1983 parody liquor advertisement in Hustler magazine suggested that Falwell had lost his virginity to his mother in an outhouse. Ouch. After Falwell filed the suit, Flynt ran a cartoon of Falwell’s head being expelled from a donkey’s ass and it escalated from there. This went all the way to the SCOTUS and they overturned an appellate judgement against Flynt of $200,000 and ruled that a public figure cannot recover damages stemming from a satirical attack. This case elevated the adult industry to a vanguard of 1st amendment freedoms, widening what was considered ‘speech’ to include satire…even if it’s super-gross and really really mean. This year, Jerry Falwell Jr. and the university his father founded (and he ran since 2007) are suing each other over his dismissal after a threesome involving him, his wife and the pool guy made headlines. I’m pretty sure Larry Flynt is giggling in his grave.
Notable decisions
Other cases that led us to where we’re at now:
New York vs Ferber (1982) – Child pornography has no free speech protection (As it shouldn’t)
Renton vs Playtime Theaters (1986) – Cities can’t ban adult theaters, but they can zone them into the boondocks. (Why you have to drive so far to watch naked pole dancing)
X-Rated Cable TV (1996) – Cable operators cannot ban adult material from public access channels, but can ban adult stuff on channels leased to commercial operators. (Meh – porn costs too much on cable anyway)
Internet porn – An ongoing legal clusterfuck with no end in sight.
Revenge porn (2018) After a jury awarded a Los Angeles woman 6.4 million dollars because her ex-boyfriend copied her identity and posted intimate pics of her all over the internet, most states adopted forms of revenge porn legislation. Not based on actual human decency, the statutes are more affiliated with copyright law…but serve the same purpose. Remember this the next time your partner starts bugging you to ‘film our love’.
I didn’t agree to that!
Then there’s the comedy that happens when pornstars sue each other. Nikki Benz sued Brazzers, director Tony T, and porn stud (and glandular oddity) Ramon Nomar for what she described as an on set-rape that occurred during a ‘rough sex’ adult DVD shoot which included anal. Unfortunately, Benz answered yes to the question ‘Would you do this again?’ in an after scene interview and the DA dropped the case. Benz then tried the ‘they won’t prosecute my case because I’m a porn star’ argument, clearly not understanding how courts and evidence actually work. But the best part of this drama is that both the director and the hired meat-missile counter sued Benz for defamation. Imagine you prong girls in the ass for a living and one day you find yourself standing in court arguing that your reputation has been permanently besmirched. I’d pay good money to watch that.
The Hedgehog digs himself into a hole
Adult’s most ubiquitous hired gun, “the hedgehog” Ron Jeremy, is in all kinds of trouble after being indicted on over 30 charges ranging from assault to rape involving 21 women and one 15 year old girl, over 2 decades. Here’s a guy who GOT PAID (albeit very little) to boink legions of porn girls in literally thousands of XXX movies, yet somehow never learned how NOT to be an asshole to them. He has pled not guilty to all charges, but if convicted faces up to 330 years in the slammer. The years have not been good to Jeremy who at 68 looks even more wasted and pervy than Harvey Weinstein, which may work to his advantage in the prison shower if convicted.
But it was just a tweet
Porn DVD star Aria Lee learned what the word ‘libel’ means by accusing someone of assault on social media, and being served with a big fat lawsuit. The accused, a director/actor who goes by the totally awesome name ‘Craven Morehead’ is asking for 10 million for the “false, malicious, defamatory and hurtful” posts. The lawsuit has already hit a snag as the genius who filed it used both the plaintiff’s and defendant’s stage names…a big no-no in official court documents. Ms. Lee is defending herself, adding another layer of absurdity to the drama. Personally, I just love the fact that somewhere in a Los Angeles court filing there is the name Craven Morehead.
Give your dog a bone, or vice-versa
But the absolute weirdest lawsuit in recent memory has to be the one launched this month by porn hottie Emily Willis against two other porn hotties – Gianna Dior and Adria Rae. The suit is alleging defamation for get this…tweets the girls made about Willis’ appearance in a bestiality video showing her having sex with a dog. Whoa! I am embarrassed to admit that the first thing I thought was ‘what kind of dog?’ Then I realized that these girls have possibly come up with the one and only act that could defame a pornstar…while simultaneously making her even more popular in the process. Clearly, if Emily didn’t commit the canine coitus then she has every right to be more than a little pissed off. If she did… I know what you’re thinking, and you’ll have to go to some weird-ass sketchy Russian website to watch it. Bestiality is for most part, very uncool in America. Don’t get me wrong… There are places in the US where it’s completely legal to get frisky with a special furry friend…but you can’t film it and put it on the internet. That would be, well…obscene!
JB