Dennis RomeroThe porn business is fighting back against claims by the actor who sparked its last HIV scare that he was met with indifference at the adult-industry-backed clinic where he sought treatment.
We even heard from readers who said the man freelanced as a male escort and isn't exactly the XXX-video victim he claims to be.
The biz also refuted his assertion that he contracted HIV on a gay porn set through a man he said the clinic had known was positive. The Adult Industry Medical (AIM) Healthcare Foundation, through its lawyers, stated that it got its information about the positive test from “Patient Zeta” himself, actor Derrick Burts, who allegedly told the organization he got the bug from off-set sex.
“AIM's statements made to the media and every report to the California Department of Public Health were based upon the information provided by Patient Zeta to AIM,” the clinic's lawyers, including longtime industry attorney Jeffrey J. Douglas, state.
They also wrote:
As part of AIM's standard protocols, Patient Zeta was offered counseling, documentation of test results, and information and direction regarding resources and treatment. Any statements made by Patient Zeta which portray AIM as not providing appropriate and proper services are not truthful and are self-serving.
Indeed, we found Burts' story a little fishy, even if the Los Angeles Times, which broke his story at the behest of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), which has been trying to force condoms on the porn industry, ate it up like a dirty girl (or guy).
The performer claims he has a monogamous, heterosexual relationship with his girlfriend, except when it comes to the straight and gay sex he has performed for video shoots. He says he contracted the disease from a “known positive” during a scene, even though condoms are admittedly used in gay porn (except for oral).
As we're sure AHF will even acknowledge, it's hard to get HIV when you're wearing a condom, through oral sex and, for a man, through straight sex with a woman.
(On that note, Ron Jeremy gave us a money quote for a 2004 story we did on that year's porn industry outbreak. The male performer who was patient zero claimed he got it from an adult actress while on-location in Brazil. Jeremy had his doubts, and said something like, There are a lot of beautiful women in Brazil, and some of them have dicks. But we digress … ).
Commenters on our original post about Burts claimed that he has proclaimed his enjoyment of gay sex in the past (unusual for a man in a monogamous, hetero relationship, wouldn't you say?). And one even noted that someone using his porn name (Derek Chambers) even posted an ad on a site called “Rentboy” where the services of an “AIM tested” performer were offered.
Derrick Burts? Not exactly a poster child for porn industry victimhood.; Credit: Rentboy
Not exactly a poster child for safe sex or anti-porn-industry righteousness if you ask us.
Of course, the industry is no angel. It's sleazy, no doubt. (And that's why some of you like it. Giggity).
But seriously: Plenty of porn stars freelance as “escorts” and potentially cloud the pool of workers who are supposed to be regularly tested, careful and therefore clean. Gang bangs go off and we seriously doubt every man in line has an HIV-negative test in his hand. And the industry has resisted California law, which the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health states already mandates condoms.
So there.
But the industry clinic AIM says Burts is being used by an “aggressive and hostile” (and, dare we say, media-manipulating) AHF to get press for its cause. A worthy cause, sure. But the AIDS Healthcare Foundation is acting almost as sleazy as the industry here.
It's aggressive and twisted media antics approach those of extreme animal rights groups. Of course, we're talking human health here, so the means could justify the ends. That call is up to you.
Meanwhile AIM, the clinic, is trying to keep a thin safety net under people like Burts, despite his best efforts.
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