CHATSWORTH, Calif.—In an effort to make lemonade out of the lemons of last week's "scandal" involving a Pittsburgh police officer posing for a picture with adult star Andy San Dimas while wearing the unicorn mask she'd been dancing around in during a Pittsburgh Pirates game, San Dimas and her fellow "Unicorn Army" members have decided to place the mask up for auction and donate the proceeds to the city's police department.
"I want to try to turn all of this negative press into a good thing for the Pittsburgh PD," San Dimas explained to AVN. Along with the mask, she said, the auction will include as a package deal the Pirates shirt she was wearing in the now infamous photo.
"I feel like if this whole overblown fiasco can be turned into something positive, that it is the right/courteous thing to do," she continued. "I never meant to hurt any officer's career, and my heart goes out to him simply because he was so kind and acted professionally. We made each other laugh for a brief moment, but I guess since we didn't act absolutely hateful toward one another, society doesn't understand."
For the first time, the founder of the Unicorn Army, Laura DeMerchant—whom adult industry members know as the proprietor of Remmet Studios—chimed in on the matter as well. "That poor guy," DeMerchant offered. "It's just an innocent thing and it's been blown out of proportion."
She went on to recount how the Unicorn Army got started, describing it as a hobby fashioned after the same concept as the Travelocity gnome. "I used to do it with a monkey, but the monkey got retired and now it's the unicorn," she imparted. "I started posting the pictures on Twitter and Instagram about four months ago, and I got the URL UnicornArmy.com, and then I started finding all these other people doing it also, so I'm like, 'Welcome to the Unicorn Army!'"
DeMerchant said her vision for UnicornArmy.com is to feature more high-end, artistic photos, and that she may begin selling Unicorn Army shirts through the site. She also noted that she is always prepared to capture photos for the cause wherever she goes. "I have five [unicorn masks] in my purse at all times," she said. "It keeps me entertained."
DeMerchant enlisted friend and Rodney Moore assistant Steviee Hughes to help broaden the geographical reaches of the Unicorn Army photos, since Hughes has been doing a lot of traveling lately. After the Pittsburgh trip, she flew off with Kimberly Kane to Spain, from where she too spoke with us about the soon-to-launch auction.
"We just thought that since the mask made such an uproar in the community and we wanted to show that it was all just fun and friendliness and that we fully support and respect the police department and its officers in Pittsburgh or any other city, why not do something good with the mask and give back to their police charity?" Hughes said.
Before it gets sold to the highest bidder, though, the mask may just find its way onto the heads of an international policeman or two. "Maybe me and Kimberly will see if we can get a Barcelona cop to wear it," Hughes proposed. "Right in the middle of a busy area! Porn stars and cops in the unicorn mask around the world. Me and Kimberly head to Istanbul on Saturday. We can do it there too!"
Stay tuned to twitter.com/theunicornarmy to find out when the auction begins.
Pictured: Andy San Dimas modeling the unicorn mask and Pirates shirt at PNC Park; Steviee Hughes and Andy San Dimas during the Pirates game. Photos courtesy of Steviee Hughes.
