Adult Entertainment Industry News: January

Happy New Year from all of us at Coupons! It’s been a crazy year for all of us in the adult entertainment industry, and the final month of the year was as dramatic as any season finale in a fictional series. Here are our top stories: 

PornHub Removes Unverified Content

The biggest news to hit the industry in the past month has centered around PornHub.  After increased attacks by a variety of groups accusing PornHub of being child pornographers and abuse profiters, on December 4th the New York Times ran an article giving voice to child abuse victims whose videos ended up on the platform.  Following this article, Visa and Mastercard decided to launch investigations, ultimately deciding to halt all payment processing for PornHub.  

PornHub says that they are being disproportionately targeted, pointing out that a third-party watchdog group has found 118 incidents of child sexual abuse on their site in the past 3 years, compared to 84 million instances that Facebook has found on their own platform in the same time period. However, PornHub has implemented drastic changes to remove any abusive content and prevent it from returning in the future. They are no longer allowing unverified users to upload to their platform. In fact, they have removed any existing content from unverified users, reducing their archive from around 13.5 million videos to just over 2.9 million.  

The move risks alienation PornHub users, but the platform hopes it will take legs away from groups seeking their shutdown, and help prevent abuses on their platform.  It remains to be seen how effective this strategy will be, and whether this will have broader implications for other platforms.

California Judge Rules Strip Clubs Can Remain Open Amid COVID-29 Shutdown 

On December 10th, ABC News reported that a judge ruled that 2 San Diego strip clubs can remain open amid holiday shutdowns rolling out across California.  The judge says that the clubs can make their own determinations about providing a safe environment for dancers and patrons during the pandemic.  This ruling dealt a setback to Gov. Gavin Newsom, who had called for such establishments to remain closed during this new lockdown.  

When issuing the ruling, the judge noted that the two strip clubs in question were successfully able to implement their own safety measures when they were previously allowed to be open, including keeping strippers 15 feet from tables, allowing no more than one stripper per stage, and requiring everyone to wear masks at all times.  This could open the door for other clubs and restaurants in San Diego to remain open, despite the state’s lockdown order.

Tatas for Toys Gives Over $15K in Gifts to Sick Kids

Adult entertainers in Portland helped bring a little Christmas magic to children at Doernbecher Children's Hospital after an online toy drive event.  They used the streaming platform, Twitch, to hold a toy drive on December 23rd, bringing in $15k worth of toys, art supplies, and books for the children from Mudpuddles Toys and Books Store.  The children's toy store gave a 15% discount so more gifts for children could be purchased. 

The organizers took their pre-pandemic experience putting on burlesque shows and applied it to the virtual event.  In addition to improving the lives of these children and their families, many involved hoped that the philanthropic event will help destigmatize sex work and adult entertainment. Given how often headlines about porn are negative, they were hoping to create some positive buzz in the industry. 

Pornstar Kendra Sutherland banned from Instagram after ‘joking’ about sex with CEO

Pornstar Kendra Sutherland has finally been kicked off of Instagram, after taunting the platform repeatedly.  The 25-year-old posted a photo of herself topless several weeks ago, claiming she could get away with it because she was “blowing” the CEO of Instagram.  This photo remained up despite complaints from users, with Instagram claiming Sunderland’s post didn’t go against community guidelines.

Then, Sutherland filmed a topless video of herself.  She bragged, “Hey guys! I just wanna let you know I’m not deleted yet… I’m batshit crazy. I might be sucking off the CEO of Instagram. But whatever it is, I’m here to stay!”  She then goes on to suck a dildo while topless. This video has finally proved to be too much. Instagram removed the video and shut down her account.  Her verified account was followed by 2.2 million fans.

Sunderland has since claimed that she was drunk when she made the video and insisted she has never met Mosseri.  She says, “I was also going crazy on Live yesterday, doing things I know I shouldn’t have, and was just drunk and didn’t care. I’m guessing that’s why. I would be surprised if the other reason was why because I said it in such a joking manner. I never even really knew who the CEO of Instagram was, or anything. I’ve never met this person before in my life.”

Jeffree Star Shocks the Internet by Announcing that He Wants to Become a Porn Star

The beauty mogul and polarizing YouTuber, Jeffree Star has claimed that wants to get into porn.  He says that aside from make-up and making money, giving head is one of his greatest passions. When asked why not marry money-making and sex by starting an OnlyFans account, Star teased that he might be starting his own NSFW platform instead.  

Star said, "Recently in the last three months, I've been hanging out with a few people and we've just been shooting some fun 'Only Jeffree' content." He even showed the hosts an exclusive sneak peek. "It's more like doing things in a fun, interesting spots," Star clarified. "Like I'm sucking dick on a private jet." He then showed a photo of what he describes as "That's the craziest penis I've ever seen."

Star didn’t give any timelines or concrete plans, so we will all just have to wait and see how this story develops.