The GayVN awards, an annual awards ceremony thrown by AVN honoring work done in the gay porn industry, were suspended in 2011 but have returned for 2018 and will be handed out on January 21.
RELATED: Gay Adult Film Actor Hugh Hunter Rips GayVN Awards for Racism, Declines Nominations
Gay adult film performer Sean Zevran is weighing in following a statement from fellow performer Hugh Hunter, who accused the GayVN Awards of racism for having a separate “ethnic” category and denounced the porn industry for racism in general.
Hunter said he was declining all his GayVN nominations, and Zevran is following suit, but says he has mixed feelings about the issue:
“I have mixed feelings about it. Because on the one hand, as we know, its incredibly challenging for actors of color, for us to be recognized for our work in the industry, and a lot of it goes underrepresented or unrecognized when it comes to the awards. So, I would like to think that GayVN had the best intentions behind having a separate category, because otherwise I fear that some of the work of us that have been nominated in this category would go entirely unrecognized or not given the recognition it deserves.”
Adds Zevran:
“On the other hand, the counterargument to that, is that it casts ethnic minorities in this industry as the ‘other,’ that there’s something to be distinguished between our work and mainstream, that it needs to be a separate category. I think both are legitimate perspectives, and I think there is a little affect of both happening here. I don’t know the answer to this.”
Watch Zevran’s full statement in the video above.
