BEVERLY HILLS—The AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) issued a press release Wednesday saying it plans to file an additional ‘Notice of Safety or Health Hazards’ complaint with Cal/OSHA, this time directly targeting Larry Flynt Productions, which it said has a “blacklist” on the use of condoms in its films.
“AHF filed similar worker safety complaints with Cal/OSHA last August against 16 California-based adult film companies, including Flynt’s Hustler Video,” the announcement read. “To date, Cal/OSHA has opened investigations into three of the companies and is still evaluating and considering additional investigations.”
To drive the point home, AHF is holding a press conference and protest tomorrow at 10:30am, in front of the Flynt Building in Beverly Hills, and plans to bring 100 DVDs with them—“a stack nearly 5 feet tall”—that have been either produced or distributed by Larry Flynt Productions.
According to AHF President Michael Weinstein, AHF had no choice but to target as publicly as possible not just LFP, but the company's founder.
“Larry Flynt has been quite vocal and outspoken in his opposition to condom use in his films,” Weinstein said. “This is why we are filing additional workplace health and safety complaints with Cal/OSHA; to press for the enforcement of state workplace regulatory guidelines which would require the use of condoms in his—and all—adult films produced in California.”
The effort is necessary, he said— actually, AHF's "duty"—because of the "unprotected sex acts" that are taking place on "porn sets located throughout the San Fernando Valley that are churning out billions of dollars of adult fare every day." (That's right, he said, "Billions of dollars...every day!")
“This is nothing new,” said a nonplussed LFP President, Michael Klein. “Everyone has the right to protest whatever they want; it’s a free country and you’re allowed to voice your opinions. But no matter how much you step up on a pedestal and shout to the world, it’s not going to change what people want to see, and we’ve already proven that people do not want to see movies that use condoms. They can do all the grandstanding they want; it’s not going to change how we operate.”
Besides, he added, LFP has always taken extreme precautions to ensure the safety of talent. “We take every possible step that can be taken to prevent the spread of any infectious diseases, and we haven’t had any instances in all of the productions that we’ve done,” he said.
Free Speech Coalition Executive Director Diane Duke IMed to say that she, too, was not surprised by the publicity-oriented targeting of LFP, but disappointed.
“Unfortunately, AHF spends more of its time looking for PR opportunities than serving the needs of the community,” she said.
