LOS ANGELES—No matter how good the 2010 documentary Exxit: Life After Porn, since re-released and re-titled as After Porn Ends, may or may not be, the story behind it obfuscates any value it may possess. That is because the producer of the film, Christopher Mallick, remains one of the more reviled individuals in the annals of the adult online industry. More than a year after he made an ignominious exit from porn as CEO of ePassporte, a PayPal for adult, just the mention of Mallick's name is enough to leave people grasping for the words to express their disgust.
For many people in this industry, Mallick is irrevocably tainted by his departure from ePassporte, not least because of the manner of his exit and the utter disregard he seemed to have for webmasters left holding the bag. Instead of facing the music like a man, Mallick refused to reply to requests for comment, instead retreating to make a self-serving feature film titled Middle Men, itself a loser that returned a fraction of its cost but which opened the door for Mallick's new career in Hollywood.
Exxit: Life After Porn also bombed, but now it is back as the obtusely titled After Porn Ends, and according to a press release issued Tuesday, the flick is currently holding down the number one slot for documentary downloads on iTunes. As with Middle Men, few civilians who watch the documentary will know the reputation of the man behind the movies, but it is safe to say that it will be years before the online porn industry—in which, contrary to his own assertions, he was a player, and not a bit player, but a money man intimately involved with many facets of the business—will be at peace with the ePassporte debacle.
E-commerce companies that claim to be trustworthy for the long term only to one day disappear with the money are nothing new for the adult online industry, but Mallick seems to hold a special place in the pantheon of the industry's Hall of Shame, perhaps because he was always thought of as one of the "nice guys," and not as the guy who you suspected would one day stick a knife in your back.
Today, even Mallick's former associates are trying to distance themselves from having had any association with him. AVN has recently received urgent pleas asking that we remove stories from the website that document those relationships. They said people remain so angry at having lost money that they are venting their anger on past colleagues. What a shame that more than a year after the dissolution of ePassporte, the fallout is not only still with us, but seems to be expanding.
Maybe the specter of Mallick hobnobbing with Hollywood elites is what exacerbates the wounds, or maybe it's the utter conceit he exhibited in releasing a documentary on life after porn, when his own exit from porn was and remains so controversial.
