There’s been a lot of talk about race and racism within the adult film industry in recent months.
Last November, performer Hugh Hunter called out the GayVN Awards for its “veiled racism and bigotry” for having an “ethnic” category and then declined their nominations. In response, the GayVN Awards issued an apology and got rid of the category altogether.
Then in December, newcomer Brian Michaels showed off the Confederate flag inked on the front of his palm. An outrage ensued. Michaels addressed it in a now-deleted tweet that read:
I will be honest and say I got it in prison because I adapted to my situation. I hope a past mistake won’t hinder my self-growth through all of this. I just wanted to say that I was ignorant and led astray for a while.
Now, performer Beaux Banks is offering his perspective on the issue as a man of color working in the industry.
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Related: Adult film star Hugh Hunter calls out GayVN Awards for racism and declines nominations
Banks, who is part Black, Asian, and Caucasian, recently filmed a scene with Michaels not knowing about the now infamous tattoo.
Speaking to The Sword this week, he explains:
I didn’t even notice the tattoo while shooting. But I can say he came to set and was very professional, especially for it being only the second scene of his career. He was also very respectful, other than that I don’t know much about him and can only speak on what I saw and witnessed on set, a very humble and respectful newcomer.
Banks went on to say Michaels was “a joy to work with” and never once “disrespected me.”
I think he’s attacked because he’s an easy target being a new model. But attacking him doesn’t help solve racism in the industry. Because I don’t believe he’s contributed to racism in our industry at all. That tattoo was in poor taste and doesn’t reflect on who he is as a person today or maybe even the person he used to be or the mindset he was in when he got that tattoo.
“I’ve spoken out on racism in this industry and within our community and I don’t think that this is an example of that,” he says.
He adds, “Let me be clear racism is a problem in this industry, and media is a power tool and ally in advocating against it,” he says, “but it needs to be done more accurately and not just based on speculation. I form my opinions on actions.”
Related: Sean Zevran weighs in on accusations of racism leveled at the gay adult film industry
Kangol
Thanks for this post. So often when people speak of racism and white supremacy, they focus on individuals who promote both, but fail to look at the larger systems and structures that enable both. You can transform individual people’s hateful feelings, but structures of oppression often last for decades or centuries, and must be dismantled also. Banks is right to note that his fellow performer behaved professionally, whatever his past behavior might have been, but that the real issue isn’t the performers, but companies and customers. There are companies that have dragged their feet on diversifying (which is one reason you have porn companies, like businesses of all kinds, that step in to address the racism and feature actors of color), and you have customers who refuse to watch porn featuring actors who are Asian or too dark, etc., and this becomes a self-perpetuating cycle.
Cylest Brooks
I frequently catch myself muttering “remember who the real enemies are” under my breath when I’m confronted with people who are acting out a racism that was given to them before they knew to defend themselves. The line between personal culpability and systemic manipulation is a gray one.
You’re right… the individual people can change, but the power is in the systems and that cannot be overlooked.
Systemic oppression relies on the self-policing of its society. There is not enough manpower for the folks in charge to police billions of people… they need to control not only the people the people the call enemies but also the ones they call allies. The disenfranchisement of black people in America over generations was not only to keep them down, but to train white folk to self-police the oppression they inflict.
It’s the same vein of evil that leads to white folk saying things like “if you obey the law, you don’t get shot” even though that is categorically not true to the experiences of black people in America.
Godabed
Here is the rub, the issue was not with Michael himself, he made a statement after this whole thing. It was the fact that studios would willingly hire someone with such blatant racist imagery as a confederate flag, and brand it in their marketing. This isn’t the first time a major adult film studio has done it. And the last time it happened, interestingly enough that white model ( with nazi tattoos) was paired with another mixed race man, who also defended his co-star until, He knew the full story.
Beaux Banks has privilege, it’s good that he is seen as a black man in the industry but he fails the paper bag test, and because of that with his natural assets he does well in the gay adult industry. I am sure he is very aware that if he had more melanin, he wouldn’t be where he is today, and pushed onto the black only or fetish studios. Now Micheal has since covered up the tattoo so I think in this situation he actually is about his money, and that tattoo does represent his past. i hope he does well in his adult career, and doesn’t get arrested again, finds good influences and positive role models in the industry.
But there is a lot of white privilege, blatant and micro-aggressive racism that still needs to be addressed. I really don’t see Beaux as the one addressing that, when he is in a very good position to do so.
surreal33
Since RACISM is the foundation of America it’s moot conversation. A relevant conversation would be why the gay adult porn industry chooses to glamorize unprotected sex.
Keebler ILF
Is Brian Michaels the same guy from another article I read labelling him as convicted sex offender and later a suspect in the abduction of a 14 year old girl in West Virginia in 2017?
Cylest Brooks
I haven’t heard about that story… do you have the link?
Keebler ILF
Is Brian Michaels the guy on the left? Before all the tatts.
https://heavy.com/news/2017/12/christopher-rider-charles-krafft-nicole-hall-greenbrier-west-virginia/
Keebler ILF
Here’s another.
https://everipedia.org/wiki/christopher-rider/