OP/ED by Justin Long
So, as I told you I would, here is the mail. For a long time I have been concerned, stressed, and pissed off to say the least, about the state of racial relations in the adult industry. I too have been guilty to some point as of late by conversing with female stars that don’t do IR. In hind site this was bad, and foolhardy. I am far from a racist having been born to a black father, and a white mother. My father was never around (in fact I have only met him four times in my life and haven’t spoken with, or seen him in over 20 years), and thus I was raised by my white mother and my half sister who is also mixed black and white. Growing up in Oregon partially I have experienced my share of racism. However, until entering the adult industry, I had never experienced it on such a massive level, and had to endure it on a day-to-day basis. With growing up with my mother’s side of the family only I have always been around white people. Growing up however, I have had black influences, as my aunt and mother only dated black men, and visiting and eventually living with my aunt who was the first white woman to ever live in the notorious projects of Seaside, CA.
Enough about my life LOL. So, today I have canceled what work I had in LA and informed my agents that effective immediately, I will no longer be doing any sort of IR porn. This decision was not easy. I am NOT racist as I have stated and obviously could not be with a white mother and family. I will suffer from this decision no doubt, but I feel the mental anguish will be less of a burden then the financial. I feel horrible thinking that this is the only way for people to know exactly how I feel, and more over the only way for me to yell out if you will "what the fuck, this is bullshit". Some will say "well you are being racist yourself in this decision". I would have to agree. It is wrong for anyone to say they won’t work with someone because of skin color or nationality. However, what is a black star to do if he/she is fed up with the racial profiling he/she has to endure everyday in this industry? This is not just about getting between contract stars legs. This is about the fact that every solid thing that a black star is not allotted to earn in the adult industry can be led back to three simple things; agents telling girls "no interracial" or convincing them not to do IR, big companies refusing to shoot a fair percentage of content involving black talent, and girl being given the choice of whether they want to choose co-talent solely on the basis of skin color, or nationality.
This whole situation saddens me to no end. I am pissed off that I served in the military, to protect the freedoms of the same people that would discriminate. I am pissed off that I served in the military, and this is what my country does for me i.e.; nothing – continues to allow discrimination in my work place. So, the normal way this goes down is a girls statement " I don’t do IR I’m sorry, it’s nothing personal". How the fuck could it NOT be personal when a girl tells you that she will NOT work with you because of the color of your skin? Even worse it’s not the color of your skin obviously, because these same girls work with European and Latin darker skinned male stars that are not labeled black. The same contract and non-contract stars that say they don’t do IR are still working with non-white performers. To make it worse a % of them are trying or are getting fucked off screen by black males either talent or civilian. So, is IR just a term cause it sure in the hell doesn’t mean anyone not of that girl’s nationality. For example if an Asian girl doesn’t do IR, it should mean she only works with Asian male stars right? Well that’s not the case, it means she will work with anyone that is not Labeled Black by the adult industry. Some girls say I don’t like the movies that they put me in when I do IR so I don’t do it. Guess what? We black people don’t like the movies that makes us look like we just degrade white girls either. Do you realize that black male stars staple often times is shooting BBW movies (nothing wrong with BBW I adore a lot of them, and they rarely had attitude which is so common among female stars) but when was the last time you saw a top white or non-black male star have to staple his income with BBW shoots? I’m a skinny brotha. Again nothing wrong with BBW women (and I mean that), I have gone out with some in my personal life, because looks and a body aren’t everything, but I’m just trying to show the very un-even contrast in the industry.
Is being Black a target? Is it the kiss of death in the industry? A couple male performers I know are black, but very light skinned, and seem to work with these girls on a regular basis as they have not been LABELED black . Non-IR girls have no issues shooting with them, so you would think maybe it’s just the color of the skin, but then you get to darker European, Asian and Latino male talent and all of a sudden brown skin has no bearing. So, does "it’s not personal" continue to fly as a real statement? Absolutely not. Girls and agents like to say that saving IR extends the life of a girl’s career. I have very serious doubts about that and will use a star I have worked with many times as an example. This girl has shot IR from day one in the industry (as far as I am aware) very early in her career I had shot with her more then any male in the industry (white , black or other), now she is arguably the biggest contract star in the world. So tell me exactly how did IR extend or hurt her career. The fact is, that non-IR girls use black male talent as stepping stones, and that is morally bankrupt in thought and action. Girls are permitted to do IR and then not do IR and then start to do it again when there work slows. The sad part is Black male talent are willing to shoot with these girls, and basically telling them it’s ok to exhibit this moral lacking behavior, and it’s alright to disrupt our income. Black males are telling these girls that we are OK with the scraps that they are throwing our way.
The fact is, is every girl that refuses to do IR is saying (regardless if they speak the words) I’m doing what’s best for me and I don’t care what happens to you (Mr. Black male talent). Every girl that refuses or dips in and out of doing IR affects every black male star’s annual income. If contract stars did IR, your damn right I and others would have more scenes, because we have directors that would kill for those scenes. It is the same with all non-IR shooting females. Black males have no problem if the girls are selective in their choosing of who they shoot with and who they won’t shoot with. That’s fine, but to just say "sorry your black " hello wake the fuck up. It’s offensive, and then to follow it up with "it’s nothing personal" that just makes us even more angry because there is no way to take it but personal. The girl will take 10 cocks in a day, ass, pussy, and mouth and multiple cocks at a time as long as none of them are black? Come on, we are black, not stupid.
So people ask "why do you even care" here are just a few answers; for awards they look at the top girls movies, so if blacks can’t work with the top girls then how do WE get looked at or even come close to getting awards. I would sure like to fly to Jamaica or Hawaii to shoot a feature. No Go. This is just a couple of trickle down effects, and it doesn’t even scratch the surface. Does any one think it weird that at AVN their are 15 males nominated for best male performer and every year their are never more than three black males in that category, and 95% of the time it’s won by a white or I’ll say non-black performer that is hooked-up with the Vivids and Wickeds and VCA’s of the industry? However, even more funny is if you look at the nominees for most unsung male performer @ AVN, their are usually around 8 or 9 guy’s nominated and the list is predominately black male performers. How about equality? It’s just an Idea. How many non-black males are under contract right now? How many black males are under contract right now? How many white females are under contract right now? Now how many black females are under contract right now? Starting to get the picture. Black people are starving and getting real jobs and leaving the industry cause they can’t pay their bills, but their counter parts are like nothing major has happened because half are under contract with guaranteed money and the other half are working because the economy put mostly smaller companies out of biz not the big ones. So, who do you think shot the majority of IR? Smaller companies. Follow twitter, Sure some is a lie but you will see people post "I’m working" "I’m on set". Start keeping track and tell me what you see over a week and then lets chat.
This is trickle down economics people. Top white girls refuse to work with black males. Top companies refuse to shoot black males. Top companies, and girls often could give a flying fuck about black females. How is it that black females on average make less, and work less then white females? How is it that often even if a Wicked or VCA or Digital Playground shoots a feature and has a black talent in it, its like one black talent out of a cast of like 7 or more. Are they really saying that, that is how the world is normally ? Or is this their own private little white world? Last time I checked black pirates were common in the 1700’s, also last time I checked blacks were a strong majority in the military, so how are war movies going to have one black guy out of an entire military unit? For too long the industry has (in large part) just used black people as tokens. Unfortunately for the blacks and fortunate for the world, black people in this business are too damned stupid to stand together and say enough is enough. Too many people looking out for themselves, and worrying about what the company owners will say. Here’s a clue, big companies don’t give a fuck about black talent. Behind closed doors to many in the industry we are "NIGGERS". That’s fact, that’s the way of the world is.
They like our music, and love our food, and women but despise us, and will never look at us as equals, and this is the same conclusion drawn from some blacks in the industry when told "I’m sorry I don’t do IR, nothing personal though". Funny, a friend (white female star) just texted me back after I canceled our content shoot (told her I was no longer doing IR) her response was "did I do something wrong?" Guess it goes to show we all have an issue being told your money is gonna get fucked up because of the color of your skin, huh? I’m tired, I don’t want to yell, I don’t want to have a target on my back, and I don’t want to lose work or have to cause waves, but I also don’t want to feel like some fucking leper at work either. I would rather be judged as an individual when it comes to talent selection. Does color have to come in sometimes? Yes of course, you can’t have a black man play George Washington anymore then you could have a white woman play Whoopi Goldberg. Do you have any idea what it feels like to go to work and have 60% of your co-workers say "sorry won’t work with you, you’re black". Trust me it’s a shitty feeling, and then to have your advancement opportunities capped because you can’t work with some of that 60%. Shit now you’ll just get mad. My actions and reactions are in direct correlation with the actions and inflammatory speech and actions that are being taken and enacted against people of my color.
The racism and discrimination needs to stop. Equality has been earned.
Justin Long
Adult Film Star