LOS ANGELES—It's safe to say that the kind folk at ShalomLife.com are at least porn-friendly if not full-throated fans of the artform. We arrived at that conclusion after plugging "porn" into the site's search engine, only to see a surprising number of results, many of them related to Jewish porn stud James Deen. Yes, even at Shalom Life—or maybe especially at Shalom Life—Deen is the flavor of the month, every month.
In fact, writer Teri London from the site actually ventured to the recent Sex Awards in Hollywood to observe and cover the proceedings for an article published today titled "Ron Jeremy to James Deen: An Inside Look at Jews in Porn." There's that James Deen again.
Deen was at the awards ceremony, of course, and even won one of the fan-voted awards, but as the title implies, London was looking to tell a larger story about the perceived prevalence of Jews in the Other Hollywood.
"As we all know," began London, "the Hollywood entertainment industry is no stranger to the Jewish touch, and pornography is no exception. With the Sex Awards breaking new ground for Jews in the business, Shalom Life went back to discover the Jewish influence and its roots deep within the adult film industry from its inception to modern day."
We're not exactly sure what the "breaking new ground" comment means, but it's obviously sincere and Shalom Life takes apparent pride in the fact that the success of the adult entertainment industry is also in so many ways a Jewish success story just as it is on the other side of the Hollywood Hills.
"Beginning with the 'porn chic' of the '70s," continued London, "Jews have played an influential role in the growth of the adult entertainment industry. Most notable of the Jewish pioneers of porn from its Golden Era is of course Ron Jeremy - credited with appearing in over 2,200 adult films, directing 284 of them, and becoming the first pornographic film actor to successfully transition into mainstream movies such as The Boondock Saints, among others."
The article goes on to cover other notable Jewish citizens of the industry, including Vivid co-founder Steven Hirsch, BurningAngel founder Joanna Angel, performer Casey Calvert and legendary performer and former High Society publisher Gloria Leonard.
But one glaring omission from the article is Paul Fishbein, the founder of AVN and the co-founder of X3Sixty Network, which co-produced the Sex Awards with AVN Media Network. Leaving him out is kind of like neglecting to mention that Spielberg directed Schindler's List.
The article does contain a great quote from Ron Jeremy, however, who, when asked how his liberal background in Judaism affected his career choice, told London, “Jews don’t go crazy with that Devil thing, the burn in hell, the sin, so we have a bit of an advantage as far as that goes.”
L'Chaim!
Image: James Deen at The Sex Awards, held October 9 at the Avalon in Hollywood, Calif.
