The limited run t-shirts, which honor August Ames and promote cyberbullying awareness, are free to attendees of the AVN Expo at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas
Adult director Kevin Moore, husband of the beloved late performer August Ames, writes:
For those attending the AVN Expo, these shirts are now available at the Evil Angel booth. The booth is located in The Joint by the stage. Ask for Scott. The shirts are free. There is a limited amount given out each day. All I ask in return is to wear them while at the Expo in support of my late wife.
On the matter of Ames’ passing, we quote an op/ed by the inestimable Samantha Bentley on cyberbullying awareness:
In December, internationally known, incredibly successful porn actress August Ames took her own life following being bullied on social media, after making the choice not to work with a crossover performer (a male actor who has previously done gay porn). I should add here that in no way does this mean a performer is homophobic. A large percentage of the industry hold the same rule for SAFETY reasons. Nothing to do with the sexual orientation of said actors. In porn, we risk our health every single day on set, and some choose to take extra precautions.
Regardless of her reasons for not working with said performer, this is a case of strangers and colleagues bullying a young woman for choosing who she has sex with!? What kind of a world do we live in?! We are in the middle of the #MeToo epidemic and yet, this 23-year-old is having abuse hurled at her from every direction for deciding not to have sex with a particular male, for money. Her body. ABSOLUTELY HER CHOICE.
When I was performing, I had a No List longer than my arm for reasons as stupid as “he annoyed me at AVN once.” She had every right to cancel the scene and every right to let the girl taking it know that her co-star was a crossover. There were a lot of fingers pointed in many directions after her death, but August’s own husband took to her website to set the record straight. Bullying stole her life. Nothing more, nothing less. And I get it…
I’m not going to sit here and pretend that I was August’s best friend, or even that we really knew each other, except in passing at industry events. But she was always smiling and funny and sweet, and so damn beautiful and young. Her death hit me in a way I didn’t know it would. Yes, it is always sad when someone you know of dies, especially in such a tragic way, but this knocked me for six. It could have been any of us, any of my friends. It could have been me. I sat with two close friends a few days after and all three of us felt it. The horrible sickening sadness that actually, this could so easily have been avoided if online bullying had more awareness brought to it.
Fuck y’all
Ames’ memory was honored this month at the 2018 Xbiz Awards, by adult film performers who boldly wore shirts displaying the last words Ames tweeted before taking her own life: “fuck y’all.”
Katrina Jade and Jessy Jones, who, like Moore, are contracted to Evil Angel, wore the shirts in response of Xbiz’s decision to allow adult performer jessica drake to host the awards despite her role in cyberbullying Ames.
We’ll give the last word to Ms. Bentley.
People need to understand that leaving that random comment to someone you don’t know, they will read, they will remember, they are human. Stop and think before you type, is it necessary? Would you say this to them in real life? Do you even know them? If not, WHY would you get involved in their business and give them your opinions on their life and body and choices?
There have been lives lost because of this and there will be more, of that I am sure, but the only thing we can do is raise awareness and hope that the future will be a little brighter, so that what happened to August does not repeat. In hopes that by spreading the word, we can save more lives that might otherwise be lost.
