Cyrus Stark, a 19-year-old gay adult video newcomer, recently accused performer-turned-director Paul Wagner of sexual abuse during Stark’s recent shoot with Men.com (link NSFW).
Stark had been in Los Angeles shooting a scene called “Surprise Collision” in which he plays a neighbor who literally runs into his next door neighbor Justin Blake. After colliding, Blake drops a sex toy out from his duffel bag and Stark collects it. Later, when Blake returns to Justin’s house to collect it, the two have sex.
While the scene sounds simple enough, Starks claims it was a compete nightmare.
Stark claims that Wagner had sole control of the scene shoot and performer management and was “degrading” to him and Blake. Stark says Wagner initially refused to reimburse him for his STI-testing and car travel from the airport, costs which can add up for a young performer.
He also claims that Wagner had him fall into a bush with “the sharpest blades I’ve seen” 18 times as part of the scene’s comic setup, leaving him with a bleeding hand and covered in scratches. (The scratches on his body are visible in the scene.) The pre-sex shooting took reportedly so long in the summer heat that he and Blake had little energy for their actual intercourse.
Stark adds that Men.com had initially agreed to pay him $1,000 per scene for two scenes. But after he and Blake finished recording their scene, Wagner allegedly told Stark he would only receive $400 for one scene, cancelling his agreed-upon second scene scheduled for the following day.
Stark then claims that Wagner harassed him upon their arrival at Stark’s hotel, forced himself into Stark’s room, demanded that Stark pack his bags, threatened to call the police on Stark and then had Stark kicked out of the hotel (which was allegedly run by a friend of Wagner’s).
Related: Men.com just unveiled its new trans male performer, but why aren’t there more in gay adult videos?
“I felt very unsafe,” Stark writes. “We had nowhere to stay that night. I was taken complete advantage of, I was tricked during the signing process, and was sexually abused and stranded. I demand an answer from the company!”
In response, Men.com issued the following statement: “This is unacceptable. We were not aware of this incident and will have this investigated fully by our production team. If we find that this is true, action will be taken.”
WashDrySpin
If you truly feel this way…GO TO THE POLICE…
Cam
This is workplace sexual harassment. Why do you seem to have a problem with him complaining to the company about it?
rray63
Do you really think the police will give a darn?
ShiningSex
Obviously you think it’s easy to report this to the police? You need a reality check sweetheart.
Are you one of those that believes most accusations against people for sexual assault are lies?
Are you a Trumptard?
Catholicslutbox
I can see his complaint being 100% and true and valid.
Having someone fall into a bush 20 times for “laughs?” Really? It’s porn.
Drew
Paul Wagner is one of the nicest people ever to work in the adult industry! I have had many occasions to interact with him and would highly doubt that he would purposely step over the line.
krandall
Yeah, that’s how I felt about Harvey Weinstein. Such a nice guy.
ShiningSex
Just because you say he’s nice doesn’t make it true. People are different around others sometimes.
I am not surprised. Just wonder why more haven’t come forward accusing others because I am sure it happens often.
JaredMacBride
Money grab. Next.
ShiningSex
Money grab?
So someone not getting paid what they were promised is wrong to bitch about that and other inexcusable acts must be lies?
Get real. Open your eyes. This shit happen often.
redzebra1
You can’t say that without him demanding more than he was promised. He’s asking for the $600 for the second scene that was part of the contract.
notasjw
Yae sure Jan! Poundmetoo is so 2018!
Drew
Most likely Cyrus’ performance didn’t go well (for some reason) and he is blaming it on other things so he doesn’t have to fess up and admit he had a bad day. All performers have times when you can’t get it up or things just don’t work for you the day of the shoot. It has certainly happened to me as a performer and I have been on the receiving end as a director. If it is the first time you are working with the director you think that you will never be hired again and might even get bad mouthed to other directors so it is a scary thing.
Gay Veteran
Well it’s still problematic if these studios are abandoning deals made with the model. If a performer doesn’t perform well you should just take the hit… instead of cutting the model off at 1 scene when you promised 2. And can we all agree it’s not a good look to haggle someone providing a sexual service?!
truthseeker
@Gay Veteran
So if you hire a contractor to paint the rooms of your house and he does a terrible job in the 1st room, you should just let he keep performing the task in the other rooms to not be considered “problematic”?
Gay Veteran
I wouldn’t make a promise to a contractor that they could renovate my entire house. It’s just like in football, if a player doesn’t workout you can let them go but you’re going to compensate them for the part of their contract you didn’t fulfill. This model should have been compensated for the promised work.
jcoberkrom
IT’s tough in his business. Where is the line between work and harassment? Hand how do you prove it?
ShiningSex
Not surprised. People in power think they can get away with misconduct. Surprised we’re not hearing more from this industry. I am sure it’s full of sh*tty men (and women).
calpoidog
Is that how much you make in porn? $2k for a couple scenes?
Yikes! What a way to make a living. I get that’s a lot of money for one day’s work but how many days a year do these guys typically work?
bonbon
They can do other things on those other days you know.
Gay Veteran
Between having 9 to 5s, Dancing in clubs, and maintaining a Onlyfans account I think they do alright. I don’t think any model should get less than 1k per scene, sadly most of them do.
Brian
Am I missing which part of this is sexual abuse or sexual harassment? Nothing in the article indicates that the director did anything sexual, just that he was an assshole. The only thing sexual I’m seeing is that it was a porn scene.
inbama
Haven’t you gotten the MeToo memo? Today, everything is sexual harassment.
Sorry, that was yesterday. Today, everything is rape.
dali
Right. And I didn’t read anything in this article that says he was sexually abused by the director. The scene probably sucked (no pun intended) and the director fired him.
RandomGuy
To be fair Wagner has always come off like a bit of a douche bag.
Drew
I love how some of you have passed judgment on Paul after hearing one side of this argument. Innocent until proven guilty. Maybe we can hold a judgment that basically ruins someone’s reputation from one unproven accusation.
nitejonboy
Well if you didn’t sign a contract or get anything in writing then you’re prolly screwed as far as money goes, but you can still sue for sexual harassment, but as a professional actor I can tell you, no matter how small or odd the project, ALWAYS have a contract and get everything in writing!!