Nikki Benz announced today she has left Jill Kelly Productions, where she was a contract girl since last September.
Benz’s decision comes on the heels of former contract girls Tyra and Jenna Haze announcing their departures last week, the resignation of CEO Bob Friedland and company president Jill Kelly also leaving.
In a statement, Benz said, “I had not been happy at JKP since the beginning of this year. There was a tremendous amount of disorganization. JKP has not shot a new movie since February, and I was getting frustrated, especially with the way things were being run. It felt as though the management did not care about the product, instead attempting to do everything as cheaply as possible. I found out that Jill had resigned from JKP while I was on the East Coast feature dancing last month. Once I got back to LA, I knew I had to get out of the company.”
She continued, “I am grateful for my time with JKP because I met a lot of good people at the company, and became friends with many of them. JKP once was a great company to work for, but I think it started to fall apart around the first of the year. I am sad to see it go downhill. Jill was a tremendous asset to JKP, and they were foolish to lose her. Certain people within the company have no idea what it takes to run an adult business. In my opinion, because of that lack of knowledge and no real guidance from anyone – that’s what ran the company into the ground.”
Benz, a native of Toronto, added, “For now, I will be freelancing and booking myself on jobs. I am looking for possibly another contract with a solid and creative company. For bookings, I can be reached at [email protected].”
On Tuesday, chief operating officer Dan Ice said, “We’re sorry to lose Nikki Benz. It was a mutual agreement to have her released from the contract. I am disappointed that Nikki would make derogatory comments about our movies and associate the quality of our movies with the new management. Jill Kelly herself was personally responsible for all production and post-production until June 1, 2005.”
Ice continued, “The release of our three contract girls coordinates with our new philosophy of finding new and exciting talent. We look forward to the release of our first movie with this concept in mind.”
