LOS ANGELES—Last night adult star Lisa Ann took to Twitter to alert the adult industry that she believes a male performer is booking work after allegedly testing positive for Hepatitis C.
Lisa Ann told AVN that upon returning to Los Angeles last week she had heard rumors about the performer in question testing positive for Hepatitis C, and then coincidentally was booked in a scene with him on Aug. 7 that was scheduled to be shot yesterday, Aug. 11.
"When I came back into town last week to shoot, I started to catch wind of this as if everyone knew there was a performer who was Hep positive, and everyone knew that he was still working, and was working with an outside test," Lisa Ann said. "And more and more people started to talk about it. And I said, 'well if everyone knows, why hasn't anyone called his agent, why hasn't anyone dealt with this?'"
As is her custom, Lisa Ann asked the performer for a copy of his test in advance of the shoot, but immediately threw up a red flag when the test she received was from LabCorp and not from Cutting Edge Testing (CET), Talent Testing Service (TTS) or another APHSS-approved facility.
This motivated Lisa Ann to call CET and TTS to ask if the performer was available to work.
"With his real name and date of birth I was able to get a verbal from CET and TTS that he was unavailable to shoot," Lisa Ann said. "Now they can't share medical records, but if we're going by the [APHSS] system, the system worked. They gave me the information I needed; he's not available to shoot. At that point I called the company back and said I cannot shoot with him because he's not available to work through our testing centers. I then called [LA Direct Models Owner/President] Derek [Hay], who's his agent, and I called Free Speech."
Currently the industry does not test for Hepatitis as part of the general panel, but there was a recent window when both CET and TTS did screen for it. TTS screened for both Hepatitis B and C from June 7-July 7 as part of its health screening month; CET tested for both Hepatitis B and C from June 14-July 31.
"Some APHSS testing facilities tested for Hepatitis C antibody during the months of June and July," FSC CEO Diane Duke told AVN. "At that time, Hepatitis C was not a test mandated as part of the regular performer panel. The APHSS Medical Advisory Committee agreed that for those tests that included the Hepatitis C test that any performer with a positive result would be made unavailable until the prescribing doctor from the testing facility deemed it was safe for him or her to work again."
AVN has learned that the male performer in question has been listed as unavailable in the APHSS system since some point in June and currently is listed as unavailable for work.
"Sexual transmission of Hepatitis C is very rare and the chance of transmission is extremely low risk," Duke said. "However, as an extra precaution, performers who have tested positive for Hepatitis C are removed from availability status in the APHSS database until the doctor has deemed it safe for them to work again.
"Performers who are unavailable on the APHSS system should not work," she continued. "Agents should not promote or schedule performers who are listed as unavailable to work. Directors and producers should check the APHSS database for performer availability prior to shooting any performer."
Duke added that the APHSS Medical Advisory Council met twice last month and is currently working on finalizing the testing panel protocols. While this is being finalized, the Medical Advisory Council agreed that APHSS should add Hepatitis B and C to the testing panel once every 28 days and Trichomoniasis to every panel.
"Over the next several weeks APHSS will communicate with performers, producers and agents about these newly added tests, as well as continued support and information on using the APHSS system," Duke said.
The APHSS database is only as strong as the performers who test through the approved facilities and the producers who diligently check its records before booking—and shooting—sex scenes. If producers accept STI tests from outside facilities, or at the very least do not check APHSS for performer availability, issues like this—with performers circumventing established industry protocol and agents and producers not abiding by APHSS protocols—will continue to crop up.
In a statement issued early this evening, LATATA's Hay asserted that the group is taking Lisa Ann's allegation very seriously and is launching its own investigation, but that it has found no evidence so far to support her claim. LATATA is recommending that the male performer test immediately at TTS to "remove any element of doubt."
The full text of LATATA's statement can be found here.
