LOS ANGELES—The Los Angeles Press Club today announced the finalists for its 11th National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards, and two articles by long-time AVN reporter Mark Kernes were among the nominees. It is believed to be the first time any journalist serving the adult industry has been nominated for the prestigious awards.
In the Online Journalism category of "Celebrity News," Kernes' article "How All The News Coverage Might Get Stormy Daniels Killed" was among five nominees in the category, while in the category of "Commentary Analysis/Trend—TV," his "In AMC's 'Preacher,' Jesus Has Sex. Later, Religionists Go Nuts" was also among the five nominees in that category.
A full list of the nominees, in .pdf form, may be found here.
Regarding the genesis of the Stormy article, Kernes commented, "I'd been reading a lot of mainstream press about Stormy's lawsuit against Trump over that non-disclosure agreement she signed so she couldn't talk about having fucked him, and I noticed that every single article managed to mention Stormy's real name, even though that had nothing to do with the story. Now, I've been in the adult industry for more than 30 years, and I've heard several accounts from performers about how they've been stalked by crazy fans, and at least one of them was even raped by one, and I started to think, 'Hey, every time the mainstream press covers, say, Winona Ryder, they don't add,"whose real name is Winona Laura Horowitz," or Meg Ryan, "whose real name is Margaret Mary Emily Anne Hyra," or Larry King, "whose real name is Lawrence Harvey Zeigler." So why is it necessary to out Stormy's real name, with some of them even noting that she lives in Texas? Do they actually want some crazed Trump fan to look her up and attack her? That's just not using common sense!'"
Kernes, an atheist, has often written about the interactions—one might say "war"—between the Judeo-Christian religion and the adult entertainment and sex work industries, and one episode of the AMC show Preacher from August of 2017 offered a topic ripe for commentary: Jesus Christ having sex with a married mortal.
"I'm a fan of the show, having read a few issues of the comic book series it's based on, by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon, and after I saw the Jesus episode, I just knew the various Christian email letters I subscribe to would be pretty upset that their savior would do anything as human as to fuck a mortal—and I was right," Kernes said. "So I waited a couple of days to collect some of the comments, and frankly, what struck me was how poorly they understood (understand!) what their God put Christ on earth to do: Be human! And guess what? Humans have sex! That's how they make more humans! So with that sort of hypocrisy being floated, I just had to write about it."
The 11th National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards will be given out during an awards banquet to be held at the Biltmore Hotel in downtown LA on December 2, and will include a red carpet, a silent auction and the awards dinner, which will also fete the club's "Special Honorees" comedian Carol Burnett, newscaster George Pennacchio, the late food critic Jonathan Gold and author Michael Connelly. Tickets to the event may be purchased here.
UPDATE: Well, the awards show has come and gone, and Kernes was passed over for both awards.
