LAS VEGAS—Some 30 minutes after giving an impassioned speech about embracing diversity in the industry, Sean Zevran stood on stage again—this time nearly speechless, searching for words to express his gratitude after being named Performer of the Year at the 2018 GayVN Awards, sponsored by Cam4, IWantEmpire.com and Pornhub.
“This is heavy,” he said, the weight of the award and the moment coming over him as the crowd erupted in cheers. “I don’t know what to say now. I don’t have words on the screen. There’s a lot of people I would like to thank and I’m sure I will forget many…Randy Blue, that’s where I started my career; then I went to Falcon Studios Group, Raging Stallion, Hot House, I would like to thank all of you. I’m now at CockyBoys, and it’s been a wonderful experience so far. I wish I had a better speech, but I didn’t have time to prepare this like the other one!”
That was just one of many highlights from the epic night inside The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino as the GayVN Awards made a triumphant return after an eight-year hiatus. Attended by the industry’s leading performers and companies, it was hosted by entertainer D.J. “Shangela” Pierce, best known as a three-time contestant on the smash reality show RuPaul’s Drag Race.
“This is Las Vegas, where anything goes…and everyone hoes. Have fun. We are here tonight to honor and celebrate you—those who have excelled in the adult industry through your hard work and hard-ons. I must say I love this community so much—the gay adult film community,” said the hostess, who struck the perfect balance of showmanship, humor and sincerity. “We are connected, drag queens and porn stars. We both come from a walk of life that mainstream society doesn't always understand or respect—but they surely love to be entertained by us, don't they? But know that you're all fabulous, and dedicated to your craft. And I am your ally. Your friend. Your fan.”
The night also featured the induction of an icon into the GayVN Hall of Fame, a return to form for one of the industry’s most respected directors, a four-win night for an increasing surprised winner and the coronation of the “Queen of Porn.”
“I’m speechless,” said Tony Rios immediately after the festivities wrapped. The CEO of AVN Media Network made it his personal mission to bring back the show, which was last held in 2010 and this year made its Las Vegas debut as part of GayVN@Internext, the trade show within a trade show at Internext Expo. “I’ve overwhelmed with joy with how the show went. I have to thank all my amazing and talented staff and everyone we worked with, I’m in awe with what happened. It just makes me feel really, really good inside that what we’re doing here is the right thing.”
He wasn’t the only one beaming at the end of the night. Leaving the auditorium, Blake Mitchell was literally all smiles—but struggling to find his footing as he tried to balance his four awards. “I need another suitcase…I can’t take this all home!”
Mitchell grabbed his first statue in a tie for Best Twink Scene, his Helix effort in Boys Night alongside Logan Cross, Colton James and Sean Ford, sharing the hardware with Bel Ami’s Summer Break orgy (featuring Jeff Mirren, Helmut Huxley, Roald Ekberg and Marcel Gassion, who weren’t in attendance). But Mitchell had virtually no time to catch his breath doing winner’s circle photos and press backstage when his name was called again, this time as part of Best Group Scene winner from Helix’s Lifeguards: Summer Session (shared with Kyle Ross, Max Carter, Joey Mills, Tyler Hill and Evan Parker). “Oh shit!” he smiled as he hurried back to accept it, his smile wider as he headed backstage again: “I wasn’t sure if I was gonna win a single award, so to do two back to back is really, really exciting.”
But his night wasn’t nearly done: Mitchell later won two Fan Awards for Favorite Cam Guy and Favorite Body, the former award giving him particular satisfaction. “I got my start in this industry four years ago on Chaturbate doing webcam, and it’s always been really close to my heart. It’s always been really important to me—I feel like it’s one of my favorite ways to interact with everybody, get to interact with all the fans. It’s a platform that I think has a lot of potential; there’s a lot of great performers who come out of cam, and sometimes I think it’s a little forgotten in this industry—and it’s very rewarding to be part of that industry and this one.”
The emotion of the moment began to sink in even more backstage: “I’m totally shocked, this is really the one award that I was really hoping to win, it’s very, very validating to me after…I’m sorry,” he said, pausing as he searched for the words and let the moment sink in, taking a deep breath before continuing.
“It’s really validating after four years of being in this industry, after getting my start in webcam, to win this award. I’m literally shaking right now, I can’t believe I’ve won one award, much less three. It’s been a wonderful night, and GayVN has done an amazing event—I cannot overstate that.”
He wasn’t the only one fighting to get the words out through watery eyes. The night began with Colton Grey’s Best Supporting Actor win for Secrets and Lies (NakedSword/Rock Candy), the performer clearly surprised as he took the stage.
“I don’t know what to say,” he uttered. “Thank you to (mr.) Pam, and everybody who worked on this movie…I have tears in my eyes, it’s just crazy. Thank you for everybody here, you inspire me to keep working…and jack off to your videos some more.”
Later that night, Grey reflected on the moment: “It was shocking to win, it was unexpected—there’s a lot of great people, there’s a lot of other films that were really good. And I had never won an award before…that was my first award. I didn’t even prepare, and it was the first award of the night and I was caught off guard. I got excited and emotional, I had tears in my eyes. It’s just nice to be doing this for so long and to receive some recognition for it.”
For mr. Pam, it was an equally validating evening: Kiss and Tel Aviv earned her Best Director (Non-Feature), and earned NakedSword the honor for Best All-Sex Movie.
“I love shooting there…I have a sticker on the camera that says ‘No fear,’” she shared on stage. “I am blown away by how beautiful this award ceremony is. I want to thank Tim Valenti, our fearless boss at NakedSword and Falcon Studios Group, and everybody for sending me there and all the boys in the movie.”
Backstage, the director shared her love of Israel. “It was so much fun. We were all there for a party for Hustlaball, and so everybody was pretty pumped for the sex party, and it was most of the guys’ first time in Israel and the Middle East, so they were in this brand-new country for them. Tel Aviv is amazing—super sexual, super gay, and we were able to shoot all four sex scenes outside. I love what I do, and I think my energy is contagious. I’m thinking maybe I’m the queen of gay porn,” she laughed. “People keep calling me that lately; I can feel it. I lost about 80 pounds in the last two years, and I really feel like I’m on fire.”
On stage to accept the award for Best All-Sex Feature, she was accompanied by star Ryan Rose, who noted backstage that the difficulty of the shoot was worth it. “It was so difficult, it wasn’t (mr. Pam’s) fault—it was the location, very hot, and it was salty from the sea, we had sun lotion all over…we had people going by on horseback, which was amazing; and then military helicopters, which wasn’t amazing,” he laughed.
Pam was also thanked by legendary director Chi Chi LaRue, who picked up Best Director - Feature for Falcon’s Earthbound: Heaven to Hell 2—a film made 12 years after the original. The award also came 12 years after LaRue’s last GayVN directing triumph: Wrong Side of the Tracks in 2006.
“A director does nothing without the people around them…Earthbound, wow. mr. Pam, Tony Dimarco, Tim Valenti, thank you,” he said as claps filled the theater. “Do you remember when we used to make movies, instead of scenes on a black couch that has the cum stains on it from the day before? This is real. You know what? It’s gorgeous, and movies are amazing, and NakedSword and Falcon—they make movies, we make movies. You can turn off all the sex, fucking mute the sex, and it’s still a movie.”
But it wasn’t LaRue’s only time in the spotlight. When Jake Jaxson was accepting the final award of the evening—Best Feature for CockyBoys’ One Erection: The Un-Making of a Boy Band—he called his co-collaborator on stage. LaRue sent the praise right back: “This man makes a feature like no one else…let’s hear it for Jake!”
Backstage, Jaxson said he was almost speechless.
“It was truly unexpected. I really go into many things with no expectation…I’m blown away. It was a project that was a collaboration, and that doesn’t happen a lot in the industry, and it was with Chi Chi—and it was also a collaboration with a group of guys that I absolutely adore—they’re funny, they’re connected. What I can say about the awards tonight is that what GayVN did made every one of these guys that sometimes feels marginalized, or not just right, or outcast in society—it made them feel special, and it made them feel like what they do has purpose.”
Jaxson also gave a hug and shared a private moment with Zevran backstage, where the performer was still doing press for his win.
“I’m so proud of him and I’m proud to work with him. He got up there and spoke about something that had meaning, power and purpose, and he talked about the essence, the reality, of what sex means to our business. A lot of people talk about porn and they never talk about sex; it was just powerful, on many levels. Beyond his personal feelings, it addressed the things that more and more in the industry feel, that what we do has purpose. I can’t imagine doing anything—doing any work, doing anything in your life—and not feeling like it has purpose. I think he spoke for a lot of young men out there tonight, and I was proud of that, genuinely touched.”
In his speech earlier in the night, Zevran—part of the industry going on six years now—touched upon the controversy late last year after the fallout from the Best Ethnic Scene category, whose nominees were soon added to the Best Duo Sex Scene category.
“We don’t get many evenings like this, and I thank AVN for bringing back the GayVN Awards…this is more than a celebration of just sex and our accomplishments in the industry, it is a celebration of gay culture and the progress our community has made around the world.”
Two of Zevran’s own scenes were initially nominated for Best Ethnic Scene.
“Many were accusing GayVN of racism and of fetishizing racial minorities. This is something that’s been an issue not just in porn, but the gay community in general. At least one performer even went so far as to boycott the GayVN Awards by declining all of his nominations. This has always been a controversial topic in our industry and the LGBT community, one with mixed feelings that we’ve always struggled to address. At first, I thought following suit and declining my own nominations might be the right thing to do to get people’s attention; that it would help spark a conversation about racism in porn and the gay community.”
Zevran noted that he felt the decision to pool the categories only scratched the surface of the problem, so he reached out to GayVN to get their perspective on things.
“It was heartwarming to discover they care as much about this issue as do the people of color in our industry and in our community, hence why I was given the privilege of speaking to you all this evening. Now, I didn’t come here tonight just to give everyone a lecture like one of my Facebook posts,” he smiled, drawing laughs from the crowd. “This issue is much bigger than one person’s words. It’s much bigger than an awards ceremony. Personally, as a biracial performer, I’ve been very fortunate in this industry. I owe my success to my wonderful fans and all the talented people with whom I’ve had the honor of working, but let’s be real: the darker or more Asian or ‘ethnic’ you appear in this industry, usually the more challenging it is; the less work you’re given, the less chance you have of standing on this stage.”
Too often, Zevran said, black and Asian performers—and black and Asian members of the community in general—are either shunned or fetishized.
“The truth is, we don’t all share the same experiences in this industry and our community. We don’t all get to celebrate sex with the same feelings of joy and kinship, and it’s important that we recognize this and that we continue to talk about it in a meaningful way. Now, I don’t know whether my words tonight will have made a difference…but I do know this much: here, tonight, in this room, there is power. We have some of the most powerful names in the gay porn industry, both performers and producers alike. I know many of you personally. I speak with you often. We’re all friends. The art we create has an impact on our fans and consumers. It has an impact on our community—the LGBT community. Whether we like it or not, our art is about more than just having an orgasm. It defines a community and a culture. As we continue to create art, I ask that we all remember this, and that we take pride in it.”
After his win for Performer of the Year and the end of the show, Zevran reflected on the award and his emotions for the night.
“It was totally unexpected…and I wish my second speech would have been as good as the first, because I really have a lot of people to thank. Because it’s never just about the performers—it’s the directors, the companies, the team that’s on set with you that really makes you shine, because if you don’t have that, you’re not gonna make it. It takes a team…I owe them everything.”
Zevran reiterated that he believes GayVN truly has the interests of the whole industry at heart.
“They really do want this to be a celebration of sex and something that we can all feel like we share in equally. We still have a long way to go; it’s not just about one award show, it’s not about a speech, it’s not about a studio. A lot of it is people of color just getting out there and sharing their stories in the industry, and gay media doing more to elevate those stories and the success of people of color in this industry.”
While noting there was a long way to go, he added that “this doesn’t rest on GayVN. I think for GayVN to come back tonight and do what they’ve done, they’ve done very well. And like I said in my speech, this is just as important to them as it is to me and everyone in the industry, because they want this to be something we can all really celebrate—that we can all feel included and that we all play an equal part in this. I’m very impressed by the way everything has gone this year.”
Zevran’s moving speech was preceded by another highlight of the evening, when Rios took the stage to introduce a legend into the GayVN Hall of Fame.
“In 1985, Rick Ford founded an upstart company with a penchant for military men. It was then that All Worlds Video and the now famous moniker of ‘Dirk Yates’ were born. The prolific director created a massive library…All Worlds Video skyrocketed even farther in the early 1990s, when news outlets picked up the story that Marines from Camp Pendleton were appearing in Yates’ amateur porn movies. Now, more than 30 years later, he’s still going strong. He remains to this day one of the most generous and caring men I know, and I am proud to call him my friend. For all of you who love a man in a uniform, please stand up with me and give a salute to this year’s inductee into the GAYVN Hall of Fame, Dirk Yates.”
After a short but sweet speech that followed his standing ovation, Yates was emotional backstage (where his presence had Sister Roma star struck, mouthing “Oh my God, Dirk Yates!” as the inductee stood feet away from her). Yates reflected on what the honor meant—wearing a sequined camouflage blazer, arguably the most fitting and catching outfit of the night.
“I’ve had such good luck, it’s just been amazing to get the straight guys and later do feature and things with Chi Chi and lots of good directors, but my favorite is the amateur military solos. I’m really proud and thankful. I’m really excited,” he said. ““It’s the end of such a great career. I’m really in love with the business and my life that I’ve had, so I’m just so proud of this, I feel really blessed.”
Yates noted that until this night, he didn’t fully comprehend the true magnitude and influence that his work has had on the industry—and immediately got the jacket put together as soon as he found out about the honor.
“It’s just amazing. Things have changed a little, and I still get a little prudish—I’m from the old school. But this is a new generation and I’m just so proud. My nephew is taking over and he’s far better—he’s a straight kid, but he’s much better,” Yates smiled. “So we’re not done yet!”
Yates wasn’t the only one shimmering in a sequenced blazer, as Micah Brandt—a trophy boy along with Taylor Reign—lit up the evening with his jacket and his smile, which got wider after his pairing with Austin Wolf in Hot House’s Skuff: Rough Trade 1 won Best Fetish Scene.
“I don’t know if you’ve seen the scene, but I came like four times…Austin, not only is he hot, but he’s really an amazing guy. Thank you to everyone at the Falcon (Studios) Group for letting me be a part of them. Nick (Foxx), thank you do much, this really was a great scene—anything that you make is incredible. I have nothing else to sat or my mascara is gonna run,” he said before heading backstage, where he shared more.
“Honestly, chemistry is really important, and I found out that I am a lot better one on one than I am in groups. And for some reason, Austin knew just what to say me, especially before the shoot—and if there’s chemistry before the shoot even starts, then it’s gonna be an amazing shoot. And with that, we hooked up before the shoot,” he laughed. “So we got some practice time in, and that definitely helped, and the build-up…I dunno, we’ll just say I lost track of the camera.”
Adam Russo was short but sweet accepting his Fan Award for Favorite Daddy (“I just wanna thank you. Wow…you know, I just turned 50 this year…fuck it! I’ve worked with quite a few of you, that’s all I have to say, thank you again!”), while backstage, Max Carter thanked his fans for propelling him to the Fan Award for Best Social Media Star—and Helix for making all the magic happen (“This feels amazing…it’s just having big fans who are devoted to voting and being a part of our lives every day…we’ve got the hottest guys, the youngest guys and everybody motivated to perform and be at the top of the industry”).
Brent Corrigan was another big winner, taking the Best Actor prize for his passion project Ultra Fan.
“No one does anything alone, so…mr. Pam, NakedSword and everyone who made this happen, because I put a lot of myself—like, real self—into this, and let’s all be honest, we all really fucking need an ultra fan right now. It’s a really dark film, but there’s so much truth in that. As they say, do what you know, and I know this. I love this…and this tonight is the greatest I’ve ever seen…I just wanna do more.”
Other big winners included the towering Michael Roman, who accepted the Best Bear Scene award for his work with Daymin Voss and Fernando Del Rio in Raging Stallion’s Beards, Bulges & Ballsacks; Colby Jansen—the first to arrive on the red carpet—for the Favorite Bear Fan Award; Pheonix Fellington for Best Newcomer; Calvin Banks for the Hottest Newcomer Fan Award; Joey Mills for the Favorite Twink Fan Award; Tyler Hill for the Favorite Butt Fan Award; and Austin Wilde, who picked up a Fan Award for Favorite Cock along with the industry award for Best Duo Sex Scene for “Austin Fucks Clark Parker” from GuysInSweatPants.com.
Men.com won for Best Marketing—Company image, while four more sites picked up Fan Awards: Str8UpGayPorn.com (Favorite Industry Blog), HelixStudios.net (Favorite Membership Site), Boynapped.com (Favorite Niche Site) and ColbyKnox.com (Favorite Porn Star website).
The star-studded event started off with a quickly building red carpet line that took nearly 80 minutes to finish as charismatic CockyBoy Liam Riley interviewed arrivals (“What happens in Vegas…” he started before final arrival Shangela finished “…ends up on the Internet!”), while the show started with a moment of silence for five industry icons lost last year (Jim French, Chuck Renslow, Max Schutler, John Travis and Michael Zen).
That was followed by an opening video (drawing frequent audience laughs) that put Shangela through a porn-hosting boot camp—much to the chagrin of jealous peer LaRue, who dishes out orders to office “slut boy” Wesley Woods. Shangela was joined by a bevy of top talent as she went through language training (“The many uses of ‘Fuck yeah’” from Riley and Fellington), took master/sub lessons from Trenton Ducati, and got in some gym time with the likes of a Shake Weight-using Zevran and Brandt (“I bench press two twinks”) before finding the secret sauce with JJ Knight.
The evening then continued at the official After Party sponsored by BCHomestead.com, FalconStudioGroup and NextDoorStudios at Vinyl in the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, where attendees and fans mingled among music and dancing.
AVN initially honored the gay industry awards as part of the AVN Awards from 1986 until 1998, when the show branched out on its own—featuring hosts like LaRue, Kathy Griffin, Margaret Cho, Alec Mapa and Bruce Vilanch—before a seven-year hiatus following the 2010 awards. AVN announced the return of the GayVNs last August, marking the first time that Las Vegas would host the event.
