Following several accusations from women who say they were assaulted by porn star James Deen, the Adult Video Network—the company that presents the AVN Awards each year aka “the Oscars of porn”—stated Wednesday that Deen is definitely still eligible for the numerous awards he’s been nominated for this year. Whether he will win (or attend the ceremony to receive said awards if he does) is another story.
Fleshbot has AVN’s statement:
“The allegations that have been leveled against James Deen have no bearing on the AVN Awards nominations announced last month. Any nominations involving Deen himself or his production company are based on work produced over the eligibility period. They do not reflect an official position on any other matter involving James Deen.”
Deen has won both Male Performer of the Year and Favorite Male Porn Star (Fan Award) more than once. This year, he’s nominated individually for Male Performer of the Year, Best Actor, and Director of the Year, and appears in numerous other films that got nods. But as AVN washes their hands of any responsibility with regards to Deen, he has been dropped by production companies Kink and Evil Angel. Sex toy company Doc Johnson has also stopped producing his products; a “James Deen Signature Cock” is no longer available on their site.
The AVN Awards are January 23, and are hosted by Joanna Angel and Anikka Albrite. Angel—who used to date Deen—has given her support to Stoya, Deen’s ex-girlfriend who publicly accused him of rape on Saturday. Albrite has not directly commented.
Current accusers of Deen’s include Tori Lux, Ashley Fires, an anonymous woman going by the name T.M., Kora Peters and Amber Rayne, several of whom gave longer interviews or wrote blog posts about their experiences working with Deen after tweeting about him. “I had a performer on set in tears cause of him. Caused damage to her nose after a recent nose job when she told him beforehand,” performer Catalina Cruz wrote to Angel.
Stoya has not tweeted since her first admission about Deen, except to express support for some of those who have come forward, and to retweet her business partner Kayden Kross’s explanation of why Deen continues to appear on their website. Deen has not commented since tweeting Sunday that Stoya’s claims were “both false and defamatory.”
Contact the author at dries@jezebel.com.
Deen and Angel at the 2009 AVN Awards. Image via Getty.