Dennis RomeroA performer who works under the name Mr. Marcus came forward this week as the self-admitted patient zero in the industry's latest STD scare, this one over syphilis.
Mr. Marcus met with representatives of Adult Video News, news site XBIZ, his studio, Evil Angel, and the porn industry lobby known as the Free Speech Coalition.
According to AVN's account, Marcus admitted to masking a positive syphilis tests so he could work:
Yesterday afternoon's meeting was the first time Mr. Marcus admitted to being diagnosed as positive for syphilis, performing three times after that diagnosis, and willfully doctoring one test from Talent Testing Service.
Mr. Marcus said that as of yesterday each of the female performers he worked with since testing positive had re-tested negative for syphilis, which [FSC executive director Diane] Duke confirmed.
Credit: mrmarcus.com
The reports says he wanted to come forward to debunk reports that there has been an outbreak “cluster” of as many as five people connected to the business turning up positive for syphilis.
He reportedly tested positive in July 12 and stayed off the sex for at least 10 days per doctors orders, and took penicillin, until July 24, when he came to a set and masked his STD results:
On July 24 Mr. Marcus shot a sex scene and alleges the producer didn't ask for a paper copy of the test, nor did he verify on the computer that Marcus was cleared to work through the TTS database. The producer did ask Marcus to produce visual evidence, however, and Marcus said he was able to position a copy of the test on his cell phone screen so that the syphilis portion of the test did not appear visible. He claims the talent on set that day did not ask to see a copy of his test.
Mr. Marcus! Bad porn star. Bad.
Now the entire adult talent community has to go without work for at least two weeks as performers are tested and subjected to syphilis treatments whether they have it or not.
[@dennisjromero / djromero@laweekly.com / @LAWeeklyNews]
Advertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. Thank you for supporting LA Weekly and our advertisers.