August Ames, the porn star who died this week at the age of 23, had been blasted by online bullies as "homophobic" just hours before she tragically took her own life.

The adult movie star - real name Mercedes Grabowski - was found dead on Tuesday 5 December. A medical report confirmed she'd died of asphyxiation due to hanging.

She'd been subjected to a barrage of hateful tweets in the days leading up to her suicide after refusing to take part in a porn shoot that would have meant her having sex with a gay man.

On Sunday 3 December, August tweeted: "Whichever (lady) performer is replacing me tomorrow for EroticaXNews , you're shooting with a guy who has shot gay porn, just to let cha know.

(Image: Twitter)

"BS is all I can say Do agents really not care about who they're representing? ladirect I do my homework for my body."

In subsequent tweets, August - who had starred in more than 280 porn films during her years in the industry - pointed out that she had the right to decide who she had sex with, especially when it came to working with 'crossover' stars (performers who have sex with men and women).

"NOT homophobic," she tweeted in response to one follower.

(Image: Twitter)

"Most girls don't shoot with guys who have shot gay porn, for safety. That's just how it is with me. I'm not putting my body at risk, i don't know what they do in their private lives."

One tweeter told her to either apologise or "swallow a cyanide pill", while another said August "may be the the stupidest woman I've come across in 15 years of this industry".

August went on: "Sorry, it was just my opinion. My body, my rules. Honestly I’m sorry if I offended anyone."

(Image: Twitter)

But when the comments kept coming, August hit back, pointing out that she considered herself bisexual.

"How am I homophobic if I myself am attracted to women? Not wanting to have sex with gay men is not homophobic; they don’t want to have sex with me either," she tweeted.

August then pointed out the hypocrisy in some tweeters' views by listing the ways in which porn performers are usually supported.

"'Choose who YOU want to work with, don't do anything that makes you feel uncomfortable, share your thoughts'. Hmm. Well, I did all three, and twitter took a dump on me," she added.

Her last tweets were posted just hours before her death, in which she was still trying to defend herself against a mob of tweeters.

"Everything has been blown out of proportion. That is very offensive to say 'aids infected d**k' not cool," she told one.

"I'm not homophobic. I should have just stayed in beeeddddd todaaayyyyyyyy and not tweeted at all."

Her final public tweet was a defiant: "F*** y'all."

(Image: Twitter)

August's devastated husband Kevin Moore praised her generous nature in a public statement after her suicide, saying: "She was the kindest person I ever knew and she meant the world to me."

And her brother James Grabowski lashed out at the cyber trolls in a now-deleted Facebook post shortly after her death, saying: "This pain I feel cause people couldn't keep their opinions to themselves is unbearable, although I have nothing but hate for each and everyone of you people who drove her to this i still do not wish this pain on you."

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