LOS ANGELES—Veteran adult star Julia Ann is urging peers and fans to dial back on their aggressive dialogue when responding to the James Deen sexual assault allegations on social media.
The tenor of her comments in an interview with AVN struck a similar chord to remarks she made on Twitter Monday night. According to Julia Ann, the commentary has done more harm than good.
“I’m not calling anybody a liar,” Julia Ann said. “I’m saying we don’t know what the truth is at this point.
“And let’s say nobody is lying and people just have different feelings on a situation.”
The AVN Hall of Fame performer, who is in her 23rd year in adult entertainment, shared her sentiments about the national controversy that began on Saturday when fellow adult star Stoya alleged on Twitter that her ex-boyfriend Deen had raped her.
The allegations, which the two-time AVN Male Performer of the Year denied Sunday in his own posts on Twitter and Instagram, triggered an enormous response across social media in the hours and days since as numerous individuals both inside and outside the adult industry have taken sides in the matter.
“This is not a game, this is the destruction of lives,” Julia Ann said. “This isn’t just a hiccup in time. If we aren't close to the people involved we need to remain objective and not add to it getting out of control in the way it's being handled socially.
“This has no business being prosecuted on Twitter, and those of us that weren’t there, i.e. all of us, need to not add to an already sad situation.”
Ann continued, “Support whomever you want, believe whomever you want. But let’s just not spread more anxiety and drama. Even if someone’s found guilty, I’m still not sure what we all have won.”
On the heels of Stoya’s accusation, two more performers—Tori Lux and Ashley Fires—alleged they’d been sexually assaulted by Deen, according to TheDailyBeast.com. A fourth woman—identified only with the initials T.M.—claims Deen assaulted her at a party in Las Vegas in 2009, according to an LAist.com report Monday night.
Calling the claims “egregious,” Deen denied any wrongdoing via his Twitter and Instagram feeds on Sunday night.
“I want to assure my friends, fans and colleagues that these allegations are both false and defamatory,” Deen said. “I respect women and I know and respect limits both professionally and privately.”
Neither Stoya nor Deen have responded to requests for additional comment, but three companies on Monday withdrew from associating with Deen in light of the claims.
Kink.com, Evil Angel Productions and Doc Johnson announced they had cut ties with Deen, who earlier Monday voluntarily resigned his post as chairman of the board for the Adult Performer Advocacy Committee (APAC).
Meanwhile, TheFrisky.com on Sunday said it had discontinued Deen's sex advice column that had been running since May.
“I’m not on anybody’s side,” Ann reasoned. “… I don’t know who’s telling the truth but it’s also not my position in life. I’m not on this planet to figure out which one’s a liar. We’ve got other problems in the world. Yes, this is a problem, but I don’t understand how people can just see a sentence and say, ‘oh he's a rapist,’ or ‘she's a vengeful ex-girlfriend.’ How do we arrive at such definitive conclusions so quickly?
“I don’t understand. Yes we should stand with victims, but we’re willing to possibly victimize one person in order to make sure we’re being politically correct to someone else.
“Everybody’s a keyboard warrior. We have to support the possible victim because other women who might have been victims have to be able to come forward. But has anyone taken a moment to realize that if this isn’t true, you’ve victimized two people now?”
Ann added, “The facts are all over the place. Not because of the key people but because social media is distorting things. I've been called by friends to talk about the so-called facts that are out there and they aren't even the things being said.
“I don’t understand how we flip so fast. We go from, ‘we love James Deen’ to ‘he’s a fucking rapist and he’s blacklisted.’ Or we go from ‘we love Stoya’ to ‘she's a lying, angry ex-girlfriend.’ And then we have this hash tagging, #IStandWithStoya or #ISideWithJD. We are hash-tagging their lives.
“We all need to sit back, lend our support to the situation and wait for the outcome and not fucking persecute either side.
“This is like nuclear war—there’s no real winning side because no matter the truth we lose. Either way this is sad. People’s lives are being destroyed.
“We can’t be wielding these Twitter and other social media swords so frivolously. And you better hope that you're never in their situation. I guess my whole point is its really sad to see the gravity of a situation like this and their lives being turned into a team sport thanks to social media.”
