AN OPEN LETTER TO AVN AND THE INDUSTRY
Dear Friends,
I write this letter to set the record straight and to apologize to the management and staff of AVN for my unfortunate lapse of character at this year's GAYVN's. Let me start by saying that neither Chris Ward, Kent Taylor, Michael Brandon, nor any member of the Raging Stallion contingent had anything to do with my actions. The blame for that rests totally on my shoulders and was not (as speculated in several blogs) a reaction to Mr. Lucas's win for Best Picture. It was instead a knee jerk reflex to his outrageous and uncalled for "Fuck You" to the judges in particular but also to the industry in general.
This August will mark my 30th year in the adult industry. During that time I have faced Senate investigations, indictments and extradition attempts to 2 foreign nations, cancer, HIV, tuberculosis and a debilitating seizure condition. Through all of those periods it was members of our community (both print and video) that came to my aid. When my family had abandoned me and the government had cut off all subsidies, it was the people I had spent years working with who rode in like the cavalry, nursing me back to health and ultimately giving me the strength and support to carry on. When I look upon the esteemed group assembled at your event it is with the thankful eyes of a man who knows to whom he owes his success and life.
I say all this not to evoke sympathy but to merely explain my feelings of horror and astonishment to Lucas's remark. He not only insulted his co-winner Chi Chi, someone whom I not only consider a dear friend but also an industry icon, he insulted the whole room. Every writer, every company and filmmaker, every member of our community he dismissed with a nihilistic sneer and I (clearly without thinking) reacted. I am not using his abortively pedantic behavior as an excuse for my actions. Again I apologize for them, as I did in person to Mr. Lucas at the after party.
Now while I arguably may have chosen a questionable delivery system, the message contained therein was universal for the room. Once again I say to Mr. Lucas that I have the utmost respect for you as a filmmaker, but that in future (and I say this from the heart) perhaps you should consider that the path you now trod was paved by the work and sacrifice of others; others who might take offense when the efforts of their lives' work is condescendingly pissed on by a colleague they have graciously embraced.
In conclusion, I offer my deepest and sincerest apologies for my unfortunate indiscretion. My intent was never to disrupt the event but rather to defend its honor.
Most respectfully,
JD Slater
