MONACO — FriendFinder CEO Marc Bell wants to set the record straight — former U.S. President Bill Clinton posing with porn stars was an innocent act and no big deal.
“It’s unfortunate that a harmless picture has gotten so much play,” Bell told ABC News on Friday.
Bell appeared at the Monte Carlo gala, a fundraiser for the Prince Albert Foundation and the Clinton Foundation, where two attending porn performers wandered near Clinton in hopes of meeting the former president.
After a Secret Service agent tried to whisk them away, Clinton asked the agent to call them back over.
The two porn actresses — Brooklyn Lee and Tasha Reign — attended as Bell’s guests.
“They were just guests at a party,” Bell said. “It wasn’t done for publicity, it wasn’t done for malice, it was done because they thought it was really cool to meet the president.”
“He didn’t even know who they were. When he met them, he had no idea who they were. They were there not under their stage names. They were there under their real names,” Bell said. “The man had no clue."
Bell, who is stepping down as FriendFinder's CEO in July, plans on dedicating a substantial portion of his time to the company as co-chairman and chief strategy officer. Earlier this year he said he was considering running for Congress.
Bell’s involved in a variety of other business ventures, with executive directorships at Armour Residential REIT Inc. and Marc Bell Capital Partners. He also has been an investor and co-producer of several Broadway plays, including the Tony Award-winning "Jersey Boys" and "August: Osage County."