HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — A wave of excited fans cascaded down Sunset Blvd., cresting and breaking with anticipation as they flowed into the historic Hollywood Palladium, where the A-list echelon of the adult world stood ready to greet them, pose with them, chat them up, and showcase the latest in spicy entertainment, as the 2025 X3 Expo popped off.
Day 1 kicked off with the highly anticipated ribbon-cutting ceremony, featuring a carefully curated lineup of top performers ready to kick X3 off with a bang. XBIZ’s 2025 X3 All-Stars — Nicole Kitt, Maitland Ward, Elly Clutch, Kazumi, Riley Reid, Vanna Bardot, Melissa Stratton and Emma Rose — held the customary larger-than-life scissors, cutting through the ribbon and signifying to the eager crowd that X3 had officially begun.
Over at the Chaturbate booth, fans watched admiringly as creators lined the booth with live shows, performing for their cameras and passing fans alike. Chaturbate event coordinator Emely Zuniga described the electricity of the booth, expressing how she loves “seeing everyone enjoy themselves.” Bright props, games, and photos surrounded her as she echoed, “They’re here to have fun.”
At the popular Ricky’s Room booth, one of the performers who was constantly in demand from fans for hours was the hard-working, multi-talented Kylie Rocket. Rocket could be seen hyping up the massively popular booth from the moment fans were finally allowed into the Palladium until literally closing time — no shift duty for the vivacious brunette, who is also a gifted hair stylist.
“My expectation is to always meet as many fans as I can,” she tells us, taking a brief break from non-stop signing duty. “I love seeing the ones that I get to see every single year and catching up with them. What I also love about X3 Expo is all the little mini-shows that happen up on stage, and the music. Honestly, it's just so much fun!”
Rocket is one of those gold-star performers who have attended every single edition of X3 Expo.
“The energy and the vibe is always the same — and we performers really appreciate it,” she offered. “Also, if you live in the Los Angeles area, you can drive from your house to here. I love that it’s a local show, for sure. And I’m thrilled to represent Ricky’s Room because Ricky is just a fucking legend. I mean, how can you not love Ricky? He just started this company two or three years ago, and, I mean, look around — it's just popping off. We are next to Brazzers, and this year he even has his own booth. This is popping!”
Meanwhile, studio boss Ricky Johnson raved about the turnout for his massive booth.
“We have like 16 models and everyone's having a great time,” he said. “I love seeing them in their lines, meeting their fans and just having a blast.”
This was shortly before Johnson took to the main stage to announce that Ricky’s Room had signed its first-ever male contract star — frequent collaborator Mazee the Goat.
He’s my first contract guy, and he’s amazing,” Johnson enthused.
Once again, as in every installment of X3 Expo, the Brazzers booth was an immediately recognizable beacon of success on the Palladium floor. With its trademark yellow and black signage and its other brag-worthy signature — endless lines of fans snaking around other booths hoping to meet the brand’s top talent — Brazzers confirmed its status as one of the industry’s most solid, well-oiled blue-chip brands.
Overseeing everything with minute care through a headset microphone, multi-hyphenate all-terrain company figure (former talent, director, producer, team leader, staff wrangler, etc.) Lea Lexis made sure that the fans could have their time with the much in-demand Brazzers contract and affiliated talent and also that the booth served as a safe space for the performers to enjoy their much-deserved breaks.
Lexis removed the omnipresent headset for a few minutes to share with us the highlights of the 2025 Brazzers booth experience.
“For the first time, we have our favorite Brazzers Twins, Litty Britty and Badassbrannn, and we absolutely love them, and I think they're gonna be superstars,” Lexis shared. “This is their first time at X3 Expo and also their first time at an adult convention, and the fans were definitely wowed.”
“And there’s also, of course, this,” Lexis added, shifting her sight towards the seemingly endless line for the unquestionable MVP draw for the Friday crowd: the unmistakable fan-favorite Violet Myers. “Absolutely fantastic,” Lexis added, also marveling at the fan response to Kayley Gunner and Abigaiil Morris.
“I’m also so happy about the response to Jasmine Sherni,” Lexis added. “It was so much fun to see her popularity grow like that. I love to see the girls who are beautiful in and out getting good momentum. Hailey Rose also had a beautiful turnout too. She's super sweet. It was hard to pull her from her fans trying to do group pictures. We cannot pull her from the fans!”
Lexis shared that given what's going on in L.A. right now, her team was a little bit hesitant to go on with the show, but ultimately decided that it would be helpful to offer solace.
“We internally discussed if we should show up or not, just trying to do the right thing,” she reflected. “And everybody expressed they needed a distraction. They wanted to do something fun and not to live in stress. We did spend until the day before having meetings, talking with everybody, asking how they were feeling. And everybody wanted to do this. We do these types of conventions for the girls, for the models. We don't make it for income. We do it for the models. And the models wanted to be here, so we decided to come here.
“It's a bit of a flex, but Brazzers always have the biggest turnout,” Lexis concluded. “But beyond the flex, it’s super fun to see that the fans do show up. No matter what, they show up. I guess everybody needed that feel-good moment, to feel good about something, feel excited, feel happy. And we provided that, both for the models and the fans.”
Over at Fleshlight, Chief Marketing Officer Trent Doney looked on as creators lounged on white leather couches and showed off their custom products.
“I’m excited to be here and meet all the content creators,” he said. “Fleshlight loves to show up at these events and support the girls as much as we can.”
Reigning and two-time XMAs Female Performer of the Year Vanna Bardot was also greeting fans at the Fleshlight booth with a special-edition version of her popular signature sex toy.
“The show has had a great turnout this year,” Bardot, now a veteran of several X3 Expos, noted. “We're having a great time. It's great that the show is in L.A. It's nice to be able to not have to fly out and go to another place. It definitely feels a lot more intimate here.”
Bardot added that this is her first time signing for Fleshlight.
“It’s incredibly exciting, especially because this year, for the first time, they are doing Limited Edition sleeves for every single person buying it at this signing, so you can only get that here at X3, with a special edition box and even the Fleshlight itself is unique to the show. This is definitely an attractive collector’s item, and the company put so much thought and care into this, to give fans a special experience.”
Looking ahead to 2025, Bardot told us that she is now trying to just focus on her own content.
“I’ve shot so much for practically every studio for my whole career,” she shared, “and now I'm getting really excited trying to produce my own stuff — and I love this process.”
In the rotunda room, a group of excited fans were welcomed to an intimate screening of Adult Time’s Spun, with writer/director Casey Calvert introducing the film, which she said “explored reconnecting with a past love” during a sleepover party. “I hope you enjoy it!”
Fans lined up to meet multi-talented performer, YouTuber, creator, cosplayer, and all-around beloved industry veteran Britney Amber, always a welcome ray of sunshine at these events.
“I love meeting my fans, first and foremost,” she shared. “Oh my gosh! My face hurts from smiling so much all day. Everybody comes with so much love and gifts and smiles and hugs. I really like this show because I feel it’s a more intimate experience with the fans, it’s really up close and personal. There’s not a lot of barriers between the fans and I, so it's easy to hug and communicate.”
Like a lot of the interviewees, Amber stressed that she loves that the show is in the L.A. area, easily reachable from her home, a couple of hours away.
“I make it a mini-vacation, and there's always so many other fun things to do around Palladium,” she offered. “And also, because so many people live here, it's great to get to see so many local fans and also so many local stars.”
Amber told us that the X3 Expo doubles as a great networking and hang opportunity with fellow performers who travel in especially for the event.
“So, actually,” she laughs, “right when I got here, I saw Nicolette Shea outside the bathroom — and we scheduled a collab! I just got right out of the bathroom to change, and then, boom, Nicolette she was there. She's like, ‘Tomorrow, come over. We're gonna do a collaboration. Let's go!’ So, yes, I love that about this show. Just as special as seeing the fans is getting to see the girls that you get to only really engage with on social media most of the time.”
Amber teased the imminent release of a very special “Handmaid’s Tale” scene with fellow long-time star Cherie DeVille.
“The first part's already out,” she explained, “and Part 2 is coming January 20th — to ‘celebrate’ the inauguration. It looks beautiful and the scenes are incredible. I am so proud of this project and I really hope you guys can see it.”
Meanwhile, MILF mainstays Ryan Keely and Penny Barber were camped out on the main floor in a church-themed booth, both garbed head-to-toe in nun’s habits — a tribute to their recent clip collaboration, “Unholy See.”
“She wouldn’t let me call it ‘Blastphemy,’” Keely jokingly accused her co-star. “So I think the sequel might be called ‘Blastphemy.’ Maybe we’ll do a James Bond, iterative type thing.”
She went on to praise the expo’s “wild side.”
“This has been one of the more wild Fridays I have had in… possibly years,” she said. “But that's probably because I haven't been to an X3 Expo in years. I’ve been missing out!”
Over also at the signing floor was everyone’s favorite redhead stunner, the one and only Lacy Lennon, with a long and winding queue of admirers who traveled especially to see her, drawn in by her legendary, especially intimate in-person connection with her fans at the show.
“I love traveling here to do this show,” Lennon enthused. “I get to hang out with all of my friends, and, honestly, as content creators, this is the space and the moment when we actually get to connect. We also have time to reflect and grow because we're in a comfortable, safe space where we want to uplift each other and we want each other to excel. I'm genuinely in a space where I look at every single person around me, and if there's anything that I can provide for them to be better, I will, and they do the same thing for me. And I couldn't be more grateful.”
At X3, Lennon continued, she can be herself in a comfortable and safe space.
“I feel like I don't have to put on a face and a name to tell my story, that I come here and people see me for who and what I am, and that I don't have to give them a monologue story to tell them exactly who I am. And I appreciate that, because right here the fans are real, they're raw, and the people that I'm around are also real and raw.”
Lennon also gave notice to watch out for upcoming announcements this year.
“All my NDAs allow me to say for now is ‘big toy deal’ and ‘big company deal,’” she smiles mysteriously. “But I probably can also add without getting in trouble that you’re all gonna be very, very excited about both of them!”
This year also saw the introduction of a special, collector's edition of X3 Magazine, featuring profiles of all of XBIZ's X3 All-Stars.
Coming off stage following the X3 All-Stars panel, moderated by reigning XBIZ Performer of the Year Seth Gamble, superstar Maitland Ward discussed the opportunity the expo provided for fans to temporarily get away from it all.
“I was worried, with what’s happening around LA with the fires, that turnout may be down this year,” she said. “But it’s been the opposite! I think people are up, they’re ready, and they want to have this oasis to come to, to get away from all the stress and have some fun!
“I think that sums up porn in general,” she continued. “It lets you escape, and enjoy, and have this wonderful fantasy away from all the stresses of life.”
Fellow All-Star Nicole Kitt was commuting from signing stations to ambassadorial duties to screenings of the features in which she excels as one of the industry’s most celebrated acting talents.
Kitt also shared her joy at the first-day attendance in the face of adversity.
“You know, there’s a lot going on outside — there's a lot of various circumstances happening across California, and it made me uneasy because you don't know if people are going to show up or not,” she reflected. “But I was so pleasantly surprised at the turnout of people, and I'm anticipating even more people tomorrow. Every year, it seems like X3 Expo is growing more and more.”
Kitt also enthused about the fans and colleagues she got to meet. “Today was amazing: I have my premiere with Ricky Greenwood’s ‘Dirty Cops’ and there will be more premieres, watching the movies with a fan audience for the first time, tomorrow. I’m so happy X3 Expo offers this unique chance to both the actors and the fans.”
Ultimately, Kitt wanted to highlight how events like X3 Expo work as an antidote to widespread negativity and anxiety.
“When you have things stacked against you in a climate that seems a little unstable, whether it's politics or personal issues or whatever, things like this feel like they may fall to the wayside,” she shared. “But through all of the trauma and the trials this fantastic expo has continued to show that it is a relevant and consistent brand, and I anticipate it will be here for years to come. I’m so thrilled to be part of this as an ambassador alongside my fellow X3 Expo All-Stars!”
Speaking of “Dirty Cops,” the feature screened for an eager audience.
The X3 Expo tradition of having fan screenings for the industry’s most high-profile, acting-intensive, big-budget productions seemed ready-made for “Dirty Cops,” this year’s action movie extravaganza.
Bearded director-producer Ricky Greenwood was on hand to introduce a non-sex version of his feature, and also to moderate a Q&A with much of the star-studded cast in attendance, including protagonists Kitt, Alex Jones and Jennifer White, co-stars Scott Nails and Isiah Maxwell, and non-sex actor Daniel Shar. The cast also featured Penny Barber, Connie Perignon, Xwife Karen and J Mac.
A cheerful Greenwood was enthusiastic about experiencing his title on a big screen alongside his actors and fans.
“We made ‘Dirty Cops’ in March last year for Digital Playground as an action cop movie,” the director told us. “The last 10 minutes is probably one of the best action scenes that I ever directed.”
Greenwood is referring to a fight scene between good rookie cop Jones and dastardly mustachioed villain Nails, involving guns and fists. Greenwood and his seasoned team took it so seriously that they engaged experienced fight coordinator (and performer) Nathan Bronson and a Hollywood mainstream film gun expert to choreograph the ultra-intense scene.
“It’s everything: a good fight scene, good action, good acting,” Greenwood added.
The acting and the cinematography of the non-action scenes, particularly the work/romantic relationship between Jones and Kitt, were also executed at standards that put them squarely in the realm of mainstream series and film productions. Nobody paying attention at this point is surprised at Kitt’s acting skills — she’s multi-decorated for it, both here and in Europe — but Jones is a revelation as a serious actor. Add triple-threat to his resume: he’s leading-man handsome, he’s porn-endowed and — watch “Dirty Cops” — yes, the man can act.
The other lead is comeback success story Jennifer White, who’s returned to the industry ready to kick ass and take names with a vengeance in the last few years.
“Alex and Nicole are two rookie cops,” Greenwood explains about the Shawn Alff-penned script. “They want to catch a criminal played by Scott Nails who has kidnapped a cop and is asking for ransom. Jennifer is the titular dirty cop, who is involved with Scott and on his payroll and is fucking up the investigation.”
White is at the screening, thrilled to be part of what she tells us is one of the coolest movies she has ever been a part of.
“It was the closest thing to a mainstream film that I've ever been a part of,” she reveals. “They even had a gun safety guy on set to teach us how to use firearms! Being in this kind of production has always been a goal for me. I felt like it was right up my alley. I grew up doing theater, so any acting I get to do I love.”
Was she inspired by any action movies in particular?
She laughs. “Don’t make fun of me: ‘Reno 911!’ I did watch a bunch of that. I love that show. Even if the vibe was different and more serious here. And I must have done a good job because I just got told I'm gonna be the lead in another feature. My theater background, plus just my passion for porn on top of that, I think it's what has promoted my longevity in the industry.”
During the Q&A, Jones and Nails shared on-set stories about the epic fight scene.
“Scott is a professional fighter,” Jones explained. “And even if we choreographed everything carefully, I stepped a little too close and he got me with a right hook on the cheek.”
“And then you got me back — twice,” Nails retorted.
“And then he sent me a video the next day, and he's walking into a convenience store and he's limping. ‘Look what you did to me,’ he texted,” Jones and everyone laughed. “We did have stunt guys to do a lot of the different things, but me and Scott really wanted to do our own stunts and our own choreography. But without Nathan’s help, we would have fucked each other up worse than we did.”
The actors also shared stories of how the decision to use real guns with blank rounds added a measure of authenticity to their portrayal of law enforcement officers, both dirty and clean.
Kitt shared how playing Officer Bishop offered her a chance to fall into a different kind of character than her usual acting roles.
“It wasn’t so abstract or whimsical — Bishop is very focused and determined, her goal was to become detective,” she noted, explaining she thoroughly researched fiction and documentary portrayals of similar personalities. “The script gave me a personal mission, made me able to dive into my character, because I was so different and I really felt like I was able to communicate and make her her own thing, less than myself. That is her. She became her own thing. I'm just the vessel.”
Multiple XMA award nominee Ana Foxxx, dancing in front of a projection of herself posing sultrily with a Fleshlight toy, gushed over tomorrow’s awards ceremony.
“The XMA awards are the best awards show you could ever come to,” she said. “I swear.”
Nearby, fellow XMA nominee Nicole Doshi held a fan entranced, taking him by hand towards the silky sheets accessorizing the Ricky’s Room booth. X3 was setting the tone for her year, which she expressed wanting to be her most ambitious yet.
“For 2025, I want to do more scenes.” Doshi expressed delight over getting to meet and interact with the ever-expanding lineup of eager fans. “The best part for me is to interact with my fans. To talk to them, chat with them, take pictures with them. I’m so happy!”
Savannah Bond echoed the fan-loving sentiment. When asked what the best part of X3 was so far, Bond expressed the choice was easy. “Getting to meet fans,” she said, “what else!”
For her upcoming year, Bond is focusing on “living a good, happy healthy life, with great, supportive people around me.”
“My favorite part about X3 is that it’s in Los Angeles, and getting to meet the LA fans,” added Violet Myers.
Kayley Gunner stated her favorite part of the event. so far, was “probably seeing so many people coming back to see me that met me when I was brand new in the industry.”
She added that fans even brought pictures of her from when she had first started, expressing how proud they were of how far she’s come already.
In the screening room, Cherie DeVille hosted a murderer’s row of male talent for the Top Studs panel, including Mick Blue, Hollywood Cash, Dan Damage, Charles Dera, Max Fills, Ricky Johnson, Alex Jones, Isiah Maxwell, Scott Nails, Codey Steele and Zac Wild.
After introducing each panelist “in the order in which each of them first entered my vagina,” DeVille asked the group about their pre-scene routines. Every performer expressed the importance of taking a shower first.
“Also jiu-jitsu,” shouted Dera, “If you don’t train in jiu-jitsu, you can’t fuck! All men who train in jiu-jitsu can fuck!”
Added Fills, “Shit, I don’t do jiu-jitsu. I can still fuck though! I like to eat a lot of light things. I eat a lot of fish, a lot of sushi.”
DeVille also asked the panel what someone looking to make the jump from independent content creation to studio shooting could expect.
“The big difference, of course, is your ability to take direction,” Maxwell said. “When you’re shooting at home, you can fuck in your own way. When you’re on set, and the director says ‘hey, I need you to fuck left,’ maybe that goes against where you saw yourself going next in the scene. It can really throw you off. I’ve met a lot of independent creators who, after trying studio shoots, have gone back to shooting for themselves because they want to fuck their own way.”
Back on the floor, the day’s final event was happening on stage — X3 All-Star Elly Clutch was hosting the Breakout Creators panel.
After the customary introductions, Clutch got right to business, asking the performers what inspires them when shooting porn.
“Is it just dick, or is it something else?” she laughed.
Answers were broad — from Dan Dangler saying that, in her experience, “performing is putting on a show, and I just want to put on my best show.” to Gal Ritchie saying that simply “fucking on camera” is enough inspiration.
“Getting watched is the best thing ever,” she enthused.
Little Puck went in a different direction, stating, “I wanna be able to masturbate to my own scene later,” which drew cheers from the crowd.
Added Dangler, “When you’re on set, it feels like you’re a princess a little bit.”
As X3 Day 1 came to its inevitable conclusion, the vibe as the building emptied was one of exhausted excitement, everyone with big smiles on their faces as they discussed their favorite parts of the day. Meanwhile, inside, tired and happy porn stars packed up their booths, also sharing the day’s highlights with each other, and with everyone exclaiming how much they were looking forward to Day 2.
