A group of United Kingdom adult industry performers and producers who formed their own cycling club, nicknamed PPCC, were kicked out of the British Cycling Federation, the governing body of bicycling in Britain, this week when BC officials realized that the first “P” in PPCC stood for “Porn,” according to a report in The Daily Mail newspaper. The group's full, proper name is Porn Pedallers Cycling Club.
Veteran performer Rebecca More, who has starred in such “political” porn films as Hard Brexxxit, and Iron Lady Garden, said in her Twitter account that British Cycling had made the group “outcasts” simply “because we are #sexworkers.”
The PPCC had raised money for the Terrence Higgins Trust, a U.K. charity that provides HIV and sexual health services. The PPCC had been registered with British Cycling since 2016, but apparently it was only this week that the federation became aware that the club was, officials said, in violation of a rule imposed by the sport’s international governing association, Union Cycliste Internationale.
The rule bans any affiliation with “pornographic products” or anything else that might “damage the image of the UCI or the sport of cycling in general,” according to a report by Cycing Weekly.
“Cycling is for everyone, except people like us,” the PPCC responded on its own Twitter account. “We're just a cycling club, riding for fun & raising money for @THTorguk. Is this justified?”
On Thursday, a spokesperson for British Cycling told Cycling Weekly that the organization was “talking with the club and offering constructive advice on what it will take for them to meet with regulations.”
“Our network of clubs does fantastic work within their communities, encouraging cycling participation and promoting other numerous societal benefits,” the British Cycling statement said. “The club in question, for example, does excellent work in raising money for charity, and has a loyal and active membership.”
But the group’s founder, Chris Ratcliff, CEO of the U.K. porn site and pay-per-view television channel Television X, said that the group was not willing to make the concessions demanded by the governing body, according to The Evening Standard.
"They said, 'if you can change your name and lose the sponsors then there's no problem'. That's not going to work,” Ratcliff told the paper. "Our identity is important to us. It brings us together."
Photo via PPCC Instagram
