LOS ANGELES — Some of the state-licensed adult talent agencies targeted by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) last week are firing back at the organization.
XBIZ reported that in an April 14 letter to the state Labor Board, the AHF named A List Media, ATMLA, Gold Star Modeling, LA Direct Models, Lisa Ann’s Talent Management, Metro Talent Management, Spiegler Girls, Type 9 Models Inc. and World Modeling as state-licensed adult-oriented talent agencies that make deals for porn stars who participate in unprotected sex acts.
Most of the agencies contacted by XBIZ elected not to comment citing “legal considerations,” but the few that did are aggressively defending their businesses.
Mark Spiegler, owner of Spiegler Girls said that the AHF’s claim that his agency has girls “under contract” is simply not true.
“We don’t have any girls under contract. The AHF is under the impression that we tell the girls what to do, but it’s the other way around. We send them to a shoot and they do what they want. They [the girls] don’t work for us, we work for them,” Spiegler said.
The agent maintained that his company never forces a girl to do anything she doesn’t want to do. “It’s totally up to them,” Spiegler said.
Pioneer adult agent Jim South of World Modeling said that he could not understand the AHF’s logic in the matter.
“It appears to me that this is selective prosecution that has no basis in logic. If you’re going to hold a legally licensed agent responsible for its clients’ actions then you would have to apply the same reasoning to boxing, professional fighting and even football. And that’s not done,” South said.
He added that the decision is especially suspect because the AHF singled out licensed agents and gave non-licensed agents a free pass. “It defies logic,” the agent said.
South further wondered why the AHF would pick on the adult industry when the comparison to more dangerous sports is so evident. “I can only imagine that one of the big wigs at AHF has his own agenda,” he said.
The Los Angeles Times reported on April 14 that Adult Talent Managers Inc. (ATMLA) owner and talent Shy Love, said she believes AHF activists are on a witch hunt.
"They keep trying to figure out who to blame, and now they're blaming the agents," Love said.
Love said she cannot dictate what sex acts the performers she represents are willing to do. She said her job is to match performers with production companies and projects, just as a mainstream movie agent would.
"They tell us what they want to do, we find those jobs and present it to them," Love said. "We don't force them into anything."
Love said she worked as a porn actress for a decade and performed more than 2,000 scenes, 95 percent of them without condoms.
She paid to have herself tested regularly for sexually transmitted diseases and said she never tested positive.
"We're adults who make adult decisions to protect ourselves the way we see fit," Love told the Times.