LOS ANGELES—One year after DeAngelo Jackson took the stage in Las Vegas to accept an emotional win for Best Actor, the star returned with an impressive trick up his sleeve: He topped himself. Jackson picked up the Performer of the Year prize at last night’s 2021 GayVN Awards presented by Chaturbate—one of many memorable moments from a ceremony filled with promise following a year of disruption.
After his name was called, Jackson put his hands over his mouth in shock. The sounds of multiple text message alerts lighting up his cell phone were audible as he absorbed the moment and tried to compose his thoughts. And befitting of his giving nature, his immediate thoughts weren’t even for himself, but for a close friend.
“I am sharing this award with my brother Max Konnor,” Jackson said of his fellow nominee. “Wow, I am so taken aback. I am so shook. I wish I could give Max a hug right now. We share this award. There is no way…oh my God. I am so humbled. This year has been a very trying year for all of us in the industry, so I have no idea how I was bestowed this award, but I am sharing this award with my brother Max Konnor, at the very least. I’m shook I even won this. Brother, I love you…thank you GayVN.”
Initially scheduled to be held in Vegas again, the show was moved to an all-virtual setting on GayVNStars.com due to the pandemic. But that didn’t stop the night from being a joyous celebration of the industry, with performers, insiders and fans joining remotely to cheer each other on and celebrate the hard work from a hard year. The winners all fostered a spirit of support for their colleagues in a show—and year—unlike any other.
“This is even more of a wow than winning Best Actor,” said Jackson in disbelief, the reality still not fully registering on his face. “Thank you so much. I am very humbled. I thank all of my peers, those in this category—you guys know who you are. I love and miss you. I hope that next year we are able to see each other, and thank you. I’m gonna have a cocktail!”
Jackson’s banner year was apparent in his multiple nominations, which included a leading role in Noir Male’s first-ever feature, Sin City; multiple roles in Men.com’s ambitious Tom of Finland project; and an appearance in Men.com’s popular “Top of the Fair Ass Wheel” threesome.
The performer can take some comfort in the fact that Konnor didn’t go home empty handed. He was honored with the Favorite Cam Guy win in the fan-voted categories—which was presented by his new Falcon|NakedSword studio made Cade Maddox, who won Favorite Cock a year after being named GayVN Performer of the Year.
“Thank you CAM4, it’s been an honor being an ambassador for you guys,” smiled Konnor. “Thank you to all my co-stars…it’s been a fabulous year. I have some wonderful stuff coming up for you guys. Love you! Thank you, GayVN!”
Entertainer Alec Mapa returned to host for the third consecutive year, this time joined by legendary drag queen Sherry Vine—the two joining forces at one point for their own take on Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” instead singing it as the duet “How I Blew Ya.”
They were joined by comedian Mano Agapion (aka the “GayVN production assistant”) in the AVN studio, along with Trophy Boys Eli Bennet, Ray Dexter, Damien Ellis, Jay Seabrook and Jake Waters, who presented many awards and also joined the hosts in the signature opening video (where, once again, Mapa found himself drenched in fluids…a crowd-pleasing running gag).
Speaking of Trophy Boys, there was a sense of déjà vu in the Best Newcomer category. Last year, Nic Sahara won the prize a year after serving as a Trophy Boy for the ceremony. That happened again this year, as Brock Banks won the accolade a year after working the Vegas stage as a Trophy Boy (fittingly, Sahara and fellow 2020 Best Newcomer Alex Riley announced Banks’ win).
“This is so crazy. We’ve had such a crazy year, and to be here accepting this award is awesome. I sometimes thought I wasn’t doing enough because of COVID and everything, so to even be recognized at all is pretty awesome. I’m just glad we all made it here, I’m glad we made it through COVID so far. The fight continues. I just want to remind everyone about what happened this past year, all the craziness that happened,” said Banks, who was one of the many performers in the industry to speak out against racial inequality as he helped support the Black Lives Matter movement. “We’ve got to keep our heads up, move forward. I appreciate all of you guys, the fans. Much love your way.”
NakedSword’s acclaimed hit A Murdered Heart won Best Feature, the label’s first-ever win in that category.
“Wow, I want to thank the entire team at GayVN on behalf of the entire team at Falcon|NakedSword,” said Toby J Morris, VP Marketing. “This is a tremendous honor, to receive this award for such an important movie. Only 19 states have outlawed these conversion camps, and there’s over 700,000 LGBTQ members who have been affected by these camps. And Marc MacNamara decided to make a gay porn about these camps and finesse it in such a way that was so amazing, and it took a village. Everyone who worked on this movie did an amazing job…we can’t thank you enough…and of course thank you to Tim Valenti, our fearless leader who made this all possible to begin with.”
NakedSword CEO Valenti—who was inducted into the GayVN Hall of Fame last year—was also thanked by former colleague mr. Pam, who was inducted this year. She was also nominated twice this year for her work with the studio—completed prior to her departure to start her own production company, Wham Bam Pictures.
A Murdered Heart also won Best Actor for Angel Rivera, who plays a young man sent to a camp by his father to “cure” himself of his natural urges. He sent a thank you virtually from the home of friend Max Konnor (“Thank you, guys…I appreciate everybody involved”).
That wasn’t the only win for Rivera, who also won Best Quarantine Scene for his “Lips Together, 6 Feet Apart” pairing with Sean Ford. A true love story for the age of social distancing, the heartfelt hour-long CockyBoys scene chronicles the 14-day quarantine the two endure before their passions explode.
Meanwhile, Sharok started the show as another double winner. The performer picked up the Best Supporting Actor Trophy for his dramatic turn as a wolfman in Raging Stallion’s Blood Moon: Timberwolves 2.
“Thank you, Steve Cruz, for casting me in that and being such an amazing director, and everybody who was in it—that’s really cool. I love storyline movies and that one was really special in particular. I wish we could celebrate all together, but this will do for now hopefully until next year…holy shit, I’m nervous,” Sharok laughed. “Thank you so much. It really means a lot to me. I love you guys.”
The performer was also part of the Best Three-way Sex Scene winner with Jake Nicola and Donnie Argento for Raging Stallion’s Cake Shop—a film that also won Cruz his second consecutive trophy for Best Director - Non-Feature (following his triumph last year for Outta the Park!).
“Thank you to all the fans that are supporting us through this really difficult time and keeping us alive and well. We love you,” said Cruz. “Also, support some of the fan pages of the actors that we can’t employ while we’re on quarantine, because they need to eat, they need to pay rent.”
Meanwhile, CockyBoys duo Jake Jaxson and RJ Sebastian were also repeat winners (for Best Director – Feature). They won for Hollywood and Vine, a salacious look at the tribulations of a closeted movie star, following last year’s win for Le Garçon Scandaleux.
“We won? Oh wow!” smiled Sebastian, with Best Actor nominee Nico Leon by his side. “Jake Jaxson could not be here tonight but we are so grateful and thankful to GayVN—Tony Rios, Tim, everybody there—thank you guys so much. Thank you to the cast…you guys really knocked it out of the park.”
BelAmi’s Summer Loves won the Best All-Sex movie, which was accepted by the very dapper looking Ashton Montana and Tom Houston, who joined virtually from Prague. The pair also presented the award for Best Duo Sex Scene, which went to gay porn titans Sean Zevran (who won GayVN Performer of the Year in 2018) and Rhyheim Shabazz (winner of last year’s fan-voted category for Hottest Newcomer) for their CockyBoys scene from Big Dicks Going Deep.
Helix once again showed it is the king of the Best Group Scene category, picking up the win for its six-man Inside Helix orgy where Riley Finch and Garrett Kinsley both get double-penetrated by Johnny Hands, Travis Stevens, Jacob Hansen and Ashton Summers. The studio also won Best Group Scene in 2018 and 2019 (with two more six-man orgies).
Men.com’s ambitious Tom of Finland project—where five different-themed vignettes, each by different directors, paid tribute to the iconic artist—picked up the win for Best Fetish scene for its “Leather Bar Initiation,” where Nate Grimes gets worked over by Dirk Caber, Kurtis Wolfe and Jaxx Thanatos.
Dante Colle was on hand to accept his award for Best Bi Sex Scene, “The Elevator Goes Both Ways” from WhyNotBi.com (which also starred Kaleb Stryker and Maya Bijou).
“That was an amazing scene,” smiled Colle. “I really wish I was here with everybody. I miss all of you. This sucks that we can’t be together, but let’s hope that we can get this next year. Thank you so much for the award.”
In the fan-voted categories, Camran Mac was named the contest winner for the first ever GayVN Star of the Year award. “Thank you GayVN, thank you to all of my fans who voted of me. I love you guys.”
Meanwhile, presenters Jacob (Acosta) and Harley (Xavier) picked up Best Camming Couple (a win that equally excited their friend and Best Actor nominee Calvin Banks, who was with them watching at home).
“Thank you guys so much,” said Xavier. “We appreciate all the support from the fans and everybody involved in all of our lives…I can’t even believe this happened. Thank you, Tony Rios and Tim and Amy, you guys are phenomenal.”
Joey Mills was on hand to offer thanks for his Social Media Star win. In other fan-voted categories, gay porn legend Rocco Steele repeated as Favorite Daddy; Teddy Torres repeated his win as Favorite Bear; Seth Peterson was named Hottest Newcomer; Alex Mecum won Favorite Body; Austin Wolf, last year’s Favorite Dom, picked up Favorite Top; Rourke repeated his win for Favorite Bottom; Alam Wernik has the Favorite Butt; Austin L. Young won Favorite Twink; Zilv Gudel, last year’s Favorite Top, was voted Favorite Dom; and Trip Richards was awarded Favorite FTM Star.
The show’s “In Memoriam” tribute held a moment of silence for those we recently lost in the industry, including Jerry Douglas, Roman Heart, Theo Barone, Mack Daddy, Tony DeCarlo, Ryan fields, Scotty Knox, Dani Rivera, Ridder Rivera, Macanaoh Torres and Chip Tanner.
Click here to see the full 2021 winners list.
Photography by @KogaFoto
