Sin City owner David Sturman today denied knowingly sending Jay Ashley to Prague to perform in the company’s productions.
According to Jana Juraskova, a partner at Bohem Agency in Prague, Ashley performed in a scene April 29 with Czech performer Sarah O’Neil. She said Ashley’s girlfriend/Sin City contract performer and director Aurora Snow directed the scene. Sin City added that Aurora Snow did not depart for Prague until May 2, following a signing the previous night in Hollywood, and Jay Ashley accompanied her on the trip.
Last night O’Neil distributed a statement saying she worked with Ashley and that she was not informed of Ashley’s quarantine status by either her agents (Bohem Agency) or Ashley.
“I realize this big mistake of my agent and also irresponsibility of Jay Ashley,” O’Neil wrote. “When I found out that Jay is on the list, my agent tried to convince me to work along and not to tell anybody about the problem.
“I commit myself to the regular HIV testing in next three months,” she continued. “I also declare that during this period I am also in quarantine.”
Juraskova and Bohem owner Claudio Mattei told AVN.com that they did not learn of Ashley’s status – or of the U.S. quarantine at all – until after the scene was shot. Mattei added that, had they known about Ashley’s status, the scene never would have been shot.
Juraskova said the agency was alerted by a male performer identified only as Tristan. Juraskova also said that Ashley did supply a clean test prior to shooting the scene.
As AVN.com reported last week, Ashley traveled to the Czech Republic with Aurora Snow to shoot scenes for an upcoming title, but reports stated Ashley had not been hired by Sin City in any capacity.
AVN.com posted April 15 that Ashley was reported to be on the second-generation list. He performed a scene with Banesca, who was first-generation.
According to Sin City, Snow and Ashley departed for the Czech Republic May 2 and returned May 7.
Sturman confirmed that neither the agents nor the producer “had any knowledge about their quarantine status or the existence of any such list.”
He also said that “Jay called [Adult Industry Medical Health Care (AIM)] for confirmation of his working status [and was] told that he assumed his low risk status meant he was clear to work.”
However, AIM director Dr. Sharon Mitchell told AVN.com that is not the case.
“I will say this again, one more time,” Mitchell told AVN.com, “when Jay and Aurora came into AIM, I told him he was negative, but I had not received Banesca's blood, so I could not remove his name from the list. Jay kept saying ‘so I’m cleared to work, right?’ I kept repeating, ‘Jay you are negative and probably at very low risk, but I cannot take you off the list.’ Jay heard that he was clear, I said that he was negative so far, and was still on the list.”
Neither Ashley nor Snow returned calls requesting comment.
