Update [8:20 p.m.]: Lifestyles has just announced via Twitter his intention to reply to each of the performers individually via a series of short videos, starting with Adriana Chechik.
LOS ANGELES — Earlier today, veteran adult director Jimmy Lifestyles posted a 10-minute video on Vimeo titled "Open Apology and Full Statement," addressing the allegations of non-consensual and unprofessional behavior on his sets that were shared yesterday on Twitter by several performers in the industry.
Lifestyles posted the video, shot vertically on a phone in what appears to be his home, on a brand new Vimeo account created under the name he uses for his mainstream work. He shared the video on Twitter early Tuesday morning.
The director starts by revealing he has not been sleeping much since at least twelve well-known adult performers accused Lifestyles of a pattern of inappropriate on-set behavior. The accusations started after performer Emma Hix posted videos on Twitter Sunday night giving her version of what had happened that day during a Leprechaun-themed scene that Lifestyles was directing.
The number of performers accusing Lifestyles of inappropriate behavior went up to fourteen today, after Honey Gold tweeted allegations that the director lied about being talent "to finger bang someone for shits and giggles," and tried to pressure Gold to have sex with "the whole crew and kept pushing guys into [her]" and Adriana Chechik tweeted "not only did I witness a female talent cry due to disrespect and 10+ hours of being on a draining shoot [but] I also was hurt and had to cancel a day after he made me feel forced to use a makeshift toy that tore me."
“Ok, I just got off set and I’m very angry and upset," a visibly shaken Hix said at the start of the first video, "and the reason is this director straight up put his tongue in my ass, in me and my costar’s ass and that was not what was gonna... not what was discussed and not what was gonna happen."
Later on Sunday, Lifestyles identified himself as the director in question and disputed Hix's account via several Tweets, which prompted a debate about consent on adult sets and resulted in more performers coming forward detailing previous instances of inappropriate on-set behavior by Lifestyles.
In his apology video, Lifestyles initially jokes about the irony of "never have my name mentioned so much in 17 years of doing this than it has been in the last 36 hours," pressumable referring about the time Hix posted her account on Twitter immediately after demanding an acknowledgment and apology for the non-consensual oral contact during the shoot.
Lifestyles describes what he calls "the situation" as "unbelievable," "sobering" and "humbling," and "one moment in [his] whole career [that] spirall[ed] out of control."
He states that he has reached out to "the agents involved [and] the girls" and that he has apologized for what characterizes as his "horrible communication" last Sunday. Speaking off the cuff, Lifestyles describes the incident as "a bad, bad choice, a mistake indeed" and claims he "didn't have any malicious intent."
Speaking to the camera, Lifestyles apologizes to Hix, whom he describes as "an amazing talent," for putting her in "an uncomfortable situation." "It wasn't right," Lifestyles adds.
"In my mind," Lifestyles acknowledges, "I communicated to you [Hix] that the scene was going to go the way it did, apparently and obviously I didn't and that is on me. I'm very, very, very bummed out that my mistake has caused you such grief."
Lifestyles also apologizes to Starletto, who yesterday tweeted that when they confronted him on Sunday immediately after the scene, he "continued to laugh in both of our faces, but specifically Emma’s as she tried to explain how this was NOT OKAY."
Lifestyles, mostly known as a director, explains he thought he could get in front of camera as talent because he is in the PASS system and that has "done my own silly, stupid clips over the years."
"Moving forward I'm gonna clean up the way I approach things," Lifestyle adds, because his "humor" is "really screwing up some people."
The second half of the "apology and statement" veers into several other topics. Lifestyles promises to send "I'm sorry packages, flowers and what-not" to the other performers who shared their own unpleasant experiences on his sets after Hix's account, but then shifts into thanking the "brethren on [my] side" who sent him DMs assuring him they would still work with him.
"I'm a creator," Lifestyles states. "Like I said, I got 'in the mode'," he added, referring to the now infamous expression that he used with Hix when trying to justify why he had licked their vaginas and buttocks without their explicit consent.
Though at some point he confusingly seems to deny the rest of the apology or acknowledgement of his pattern of behavior ("obviously a lot of girls are getting the wrong idea, there's nothing ever's gonna happen to you on my sets that's gonna be malicious, that's gonna be dangerous, that's gonna be off-putting"), Lifestyle promises to change the way he operates.
"I gotta read who the talent is a little better," he concludes "and cater more to their comfort and not to my own entertainment." Again, he appears to claim that all twelve performers with specific grievances against him are misunderstanding his "comedy" and his way of "making jokes, being silly, being ridiculous."
Before singling out Elena Koschka and Aidra Fox ("I am enamoured with you guys"), Lifestyle adds that "obviously with certain girls [his 'comedy' is] not appreciated."
"I clearly am oblivious to my own idiocy sometimes," he concludes, promising to "retire [him]self from being any sort of talent in the scenes" and "inviting people to shoot with him in the future."
