LOS ANGELES—Adult film star Wesley Woods says he and his best friend were the victims of a violent assault on the street last week just because they are gay.
In a one-minute video Woods posted on his Twitter page on Saturday, Woods tells his fans that he and his friend were assaulted on Wednesday, August 8th, while walking down the street in West Hollywood.
“My best friend and I were brutally attacked by three straight, white, hetero men in West Hollywood, California. Why, you might ask? For being gay,” Woods says in the video. “Now we weren’t technically being gay at that moment. We were just walking down the sidewalk. You see, being gay is the act. That’s when you have a dick in your ass. We just happened to be walking down the sidewalk minding our own business.”
Woods continues, “I’m not posting this video for sympathy. I’m posting this video for awareness. You’re not always safe in the places that you think you are. Always have someone next to you. Always be aware of your surroundings. And be prepared to fight for your life. I’m not saying that is a first means and is always necessary, but in some cases it is. I wish you love. I wish you happiness and I hope if you guys see me out this weekend baring my scars you’ll say hello.”
Woods went to the emergency room at Cedars Sinai hospital after the fight, where he received 12 stitches on the inside and outside of his lip. He also has a black eye from the altercation; his friend suffered several bruises but both are recovering.
“I’m country. I’m redneck. I grew up a little rough. I’m OK,” Woods tells AVN. “Physically and emotionally, I’m still processing it, but I’m good. I feel like there’s a little like PTSD going on. I’ve been real jumpy at just really random things. I walk everywhere around LA. The other day someone got out of their car and it scared me half to death. There was a plastic bag blowing down the sidewalk and that noise startled me. But I’m good, I think…My lip hurts. My ego is a little sore. I wish I could’ve whooped their fucking asses.”
Woods met with the police while in the ER and filed a full report about the incident but the suspects had not been arrested at post time.
“I don’t really think there’s much that they can do,” Woods says. “I don’t think [the assailants] are from LA. I don’t. I really don’t know what there is to do. My lip will heal up. I’m fine. My message was more of just like, please protect yourself, be smart and be aware. There’s still a war going on with people and gays. I don’t really know how else to put it.
“Whether they’re coming into clubs and shooting us up or now they’re in our neighborhoods. If you can’t believe that happened here [in West Hollywood] of all places, that’s the problem.”
Woods, a five-time GayVN Award nominee, won the Cybersocket Surfer Choice Award for Best Porn Star in January.
In addition to his career as a performer, Woods is also a stand-up comedian originally from East Texas. He has taken his comedy act to various clubs in LA, Vegas hotels and special events across the country before he started his porn career in 2015. He also has reached the finals of LA's Funniest Comic.
Woods explains that the trouble started when he and his friend were walking back to his friend’s apartment after trying to go to McDonald’s on Sunset Boulevard.
“We were on Crescent Heights in between Sunset and Fountain and it was about 2:30-3 a.m. in the morning,” Woods recalls. “We had just left some of the bars in West Hollywood. I wanted some McDonald’s, I was hungry. Instead of going our normal way we cut up to go to Sunset.
“LA people know that Sunset is very hetero; it’s very different than Santa Monica Boulevard. McDonald’s happened to be closed and we were walking back to my friend’s house, which is just two blocks down—south of the McDonald’s. And there’s three guys—straight obviously—out-of-towners. And they were walking towards the McDonald’s where we were at.”
Woods says the guys were yelling homophobic slurs at them and then began to follow them.
“I reacted and I told them, ‘Shut the fuck up. Get the fuck out of our neighborhood.’ And that heightened things. So they continued to follow us,” Woods says.
“This was so fucking weird. They’re walking directly behind us and if you were to look at us you would think that we were walking together. That’s how close they were to us. And there was no one on the street. It was dead quiet. It was a Wednesday night in the middle of the week. Looking back I now know that they were sizing us up.
“How the altercation started is they got in between me and my friend, kind of separating us. It was a predatorial move—like separating someone from the herd.
“I knew we were in trouble as soon as that happened. Your instincts kick in. Something felt off, I could feel it.”
Woods, who stands 6 feet, 180 pounds, says the two bigger guys jumped him and the third guy tackled his friend.
“That’s when shit was on,” he says. “It all happened so quick and it was terrifying. My lip was probably cut right at the beginning of the fight. One of them got in a very good hit. I was dazed and startled—it knocked me out a bit. So I was trying to gain consciousness and they’re hitting me and kicking me and my reality is holy shit this is not going very well for me. But in my mind I’m thinking about my friend. I don’t know how or why but that moment and that memory will stick with me forever. It was so survivalist.
“It was so—I don’t know how to even explain it—like holy shit this isn’t going well for me, but what’s happening to him? What’s really hard to get over is in that moment I couldn’t do anything for someone I love. I wish I could’ve done more for both of us.”
Woods continues, “But we ended up fighting and gaining control of the situation to the point where one of their friends ends up running and there were two still fighting. Then the second one leaves and I’m on top of the third guy and he ends up running and fleeing the scene, too. Then I turn to immediately to check on my friend once they ran away. I initially thought I lost my tooth. That was how bad it was.”
He says the brawl happened right in front of the steps to his friend’s apartment building.
“I don’t think they were prepared for us to fight like we did,” Woods says. “I really truly believe that in my heart.
“My mama raised me that you don’t you ever start a fight but if someone lays a hand on you, then you do whatever it takes and I was fighting for my goddamn life.
“My hand is sore, my knees are scraped up. His [are], too. There is blood all outside of the apartment building from me. I’m glad we weren’t drunk. We had been celebrating one of my friends performing a drag show and we wanted some goddamn fast food.”
Woods had to cancel one shoot on Friday but is maintaining a positive attitude about the whole incident.
“I’m a very happy person, very positive and optimistic,” Woods says. “I’m full of life and love. I can’t not do that, especially for people who do pay attention to me and do follow my life. I can’t hide—or they win.
“I’m working through forgiving them right now—that’s kind of where I’m at. I’ve been writing the past few days about why I love them and why I forgive them and why they don’t understand who we are. I don’t know them so I can’t say they’re bad people. I think they made a very bad decision.
“I truly try to live a life connected to the light and to god. I can’t allow my thoughts to be negative or filled with hatred. I’ve always been told what you think about and what you talk about you bring about. That’s from my mom. She had a crazy life. Things happen in your life for a reason, for a purpose. I’m grateful for the opportunity. I feel alive. It could’ve been much worse. I’m grateful to have this human experience and grow and learn from it and hopefully others will, too."
Woods adds, “It’s too easy to slip and think why me? And be pissed. In reality with good and bad there’s always purpose in it and you have to find the meaning. That’s why we’re here. If you’re not doing that you’re not living; you’re not actively partaking in life. I’m grateful to be as conscious as I am in this body in this present day. I want to spread the love and spread the awareness.”
