“I cannot in good conscience accept a Lifetime Achievement award from an organization that glorifies and promotes bareback content alongside my own,” Cam said. “I have worked my entire adult industry career to promote and eroticize safer sex content in all of my films. It would be against every single fiber of my moral being to accept this award.
"Silence is acceptance and I can no longer sit by and watch the industry where I have worked and helped shape be destroyed by others seeking financial gain at the expense of performers and the entire gay community. I cannot and will not accept this award as it is tainted with the blood of others.”
Cam did not attend the show due to illness; Titan vice president Keith Webb was on-hand in Berlin representing the studio at the event.
The controversy over the awards began when several noncondom or “bareback” studios were presented with various honors, including Paul Morris’ Treasure Island Media (TIM) which won for Best U.S. Studio.
Morris, who was unavailable for comment at the time of this posting, wrote on the Treasure Island blog Friday: “I don't know if this has anything to do with our being the best-selling studio in the world, but I wouldn't be surprised if that were a factor in our being nominated.
"I'm particularly honored to be included in the company of the legendary and brilliant Joe Gage, a man who invented much of what serious, intelligent and legitimate adult work is now all about. This is a man who is leagues beyond the rest of us. To be on any list that includes Gage is as much an honor for me as being a contender for the award.”
“TIM, along with two other Bay Area studios Hothouse and Titan, is nominated for the Best Studio of the Year, acknowledging not only that TIM is a global force in the adult industry but also that the San Francisco Bay Area is the primary focal point for contemporary adult production,” he added.
Morris was nominated with Gage and Channel 1 Releasing partner and strident condom-only advocate Chi Chi LaRue.
LaRue ultimately took honors for Best Director and according to several reports, took the stage to receive the trophy and vented her hostility at feeling misled into participating in an event that seemed to promote bareback productions.
LaRue’s spokesperson said that she would not be available for comment until returning to Los Angeles later in the week.
This is the second year for the DAVID Awards, and at last year’s ceremonies, Titan Media received several trophies including the prize for Best American Studio, as well as TitanMen exclusive models François Sagat and Spencer Quest winning for Best European Actor and Best Non-European Actor respectively.
According to Titan’s Webb, the 2006 DAVID Awards did not allow noncondom films for consideration; a policy that was had apparently changed this year.
“We were truly shocked and appalled by the overwhelming amount of low-end and poorly produced bareback films being honored at the awards,” Webb said.
“When it became known to the producers of the awards show that I was going to refuse the award on Bruce’s behalf, the award was pulled and I was refused access to the stage. They did not even have the decency to allow me onstage to voice our opinions and to politely refuse to accept the award on Bruce’s behalf. "In my opinion the entire event was a setup meant to showcase and promote bareback films and was the most biased and poorly produced awards show I have ever attended. The event was an embarrassment to the entire gay adult industry and I am sad to say we were even represented at the awards show,” he said.
The DAVID Awards are sponsored by European adult industry trade publication GAYeLINE Magazine. At the time of this posting, representatives from the DAVID Awards were unavailable for comment and the event does not have a website or a listing of winners posted.
