Michael Lucas Now Sets Target on Porn Press

When Michael Lucas threw down against fellow porn star Brent Corrigan at the GayVNs this weekend, even he might have been unaware how much mileage he would get out of it. Besides trading back-and-forth blog barbs with Corrigan, Lucas has released his own statements and, now, the correspondence he’s having with the press.

Lucas fired off a note to porn rag Unzipped about its coverage of the melee, and received this note back from associate editor Ken Knox (please let that be his real name, not porn name), complete with moral lessons from When Harry Met Sally:

Hey there, Michael,

Got your messages. It makes sense that you were shocked that I would write something slanderous toward you, because obviously I wouldn’t. I would never write anything malicious or slanderous against you. That’s just not my M.O.

However, I do have to say that I don’t agree with your opinion about the industry and Brent Corrigan. I totally understand where you are coming from, and we should all fight against child porn, but Brent Corrigan is of age now, and he has a right to perform in the business, just as any other legal-age performer does.

I know the Russian justice system is a little different, but here in America, we forgive people for their mistakes. We don’t penalize shoplifters for the rest of their lives because they did something stupid. Similarly, Brent did something truly stupid, but to blacklist him from the industry or any kind of acknowledgment serves no purpose other than to validate the self-righteousness of those who condemn him.

I think it’s extremely admirable that you stand up for wha t you believe in, Michael. I truly do, and you know that I am a big fan. But I do wish you would pick and choose your battles more carefully. There’s a line from When Harry Met Sally where Meg Ryan says to Billy Crystal, “Harry, you’re going to have to learn that you can’t express every emotion that you have every moment that you’re having it,” and I think that’s something to keep in mind. One question I always try to ask myself before offering my opinion on something is: “How much of what I’m saying is truly helpful to the cause, and how much of it is just my own need to be heard?” That’s a question I think we could all afford to ask ourselves more often.

Anyway, I don’t want to lecture you. You will do what you do, as you always do, and I support you in that no matter what. I think yours is a very important voice in the industry. But please, try not to condemn those who do not agree with you. You may be horrified to know that we are placing Brent on the cover of our next issue of Freshmen, and we have no problem with doing that. I’ll also be reiterating my opinion about Brent working on our blog tomorrow. It doesn’t make Unzipped or myself any less responsible or noble; it just means that we are doing our job in covering the notable players in the industry. Likewise, in nominating Brent for GayVN Awards, the judges were just acknowledging good work and giving credit where credit was due. There’s no need to judge the performers. That’s not our job. Please try not to speak out against us so harshly.

By the way, you can always find out who wrote individual posts by going to the bottom of each post and seeing who posted it. That way you can afford any future embarrassment that might come with speaking out of turn against writers. 🙂

Respectfully and warmly as always,

To which Lucas responded:

Ok great, so let’s accept him and then we’ll accept the next kid who does it then the next kid until we all end up with child pornography all over our computers. Because this should be the accepted protocal of our industry to forget it once they are of age??? I am disappointed with your morality on this. But we all have our standard of practices. Also, what does any of this have to do with the Russian system? I am an American so no need to lecture me about what WE in America do. Let’s respect this.