The popular DVD ripper aXXo is a BitTorrent cult figure, despised by some, worshiped by others. An estimated one million people download aXXo's rips every month and his name is among the most searched keywords on all BitTorrent sites. Not surprisingly, rumors start to spread when there is no official aXXo release for a while.

The last official aXXo torrent was uploaded November 11, after that is has been awfully quiet. So what happened, did he get caught, is he tired of releasing DVDrips, did he have an accident? It turns out that aXXo is not gone for good, he just decided to take a break.

ADL 242, an administrator on Darkside RG, the official home of aXXo explains: “aXXo told us that he has decided to take a break, so you will not see new aXXo torrents anywhere for a while. Please show your support by keeping his torrents alive until he comes back, as always, he will post here first when he does.”

This is not the first time that aXXo has taken some time off. Last year aXXo temporarily stopped uploading movies because a website named axxotorrents.com was trying to profit from his name. A few weeks after that the site went down and aXXo continued releasing DVDrips.

Earlier this month aXXo caused a stir when he deleted all his torrents from The Pirate Bay website. Apparently aXXo wasn’t very happy with the way The Pirate Bay handled his complaints, and decided to not release his torrents there anymore.

Unfortunately, aXXo’s popularity has downsides too. We’ve seen that anti-piracy organizations use his name to trap people into downloading fake files, and malware peddlers use the aXXo brand to spread their infested software.

At this point is is not clear how long aXXo will be inactive, his fans can only pray, and hope the he will return soon.