N-word lawsuit reveals the racist side of porn

Sex By Lindsey Kline

In the cut-throat industry of porn, the market runs on a simple formula: consumers demand a certain type of content, and porn producers deliver.

There’s not a lot of room to draw ethical boundaries.

Interracial porn has always thrived on stereotypes, like who "should" be fucking who. But producers have taken that narrative too far, says adult performer Maurice McKnight.

Maurice McKnight, who performs under the name Moe the Monster, has filed a lawsuit against DF Productions Inc. and his former director, James Camp, for persuading a white co-star to call him the n-word during filming, against his wishes.

As the story goes, director Camp asked McKnight twice if he would consent to being called the n-word on camera. Fans enjoy hearing the word during porn, Camp insisted, and his female co-star, Deborah Hinkle, had already consented to calling him the slur. McKnight didn’t care if his viewers and his colleagues were okay with it — he wasn’t. Both times he was asked, he refused.

But right before the money shot, Hinkle dropped the N-bomb, saying “give me that n****r load” and “give me all that n****r cum.”

McKnight repeatedly protested the scene, and the production company promised to edit the racial slur out of the film. However, when the film went live, the racist scene was still intact.

McKnight’s lawyers argue that “Camp and DFI defrauded McKnight for the purpose of creating and selling racist porn to its racist customers.” They include text transcripts in their lawsuit, showing how director Camp and DFI owner Cable Rosenberg harassed McKnight after he protested the scene.



[excerpt from lawsuit]

While this treatment was likely traumatic for McKnight, for an outside observer, it’s just one of the few times the implicit, unspoken racism of interracial porn has bubbled up into something visible.

Over a decade ago, the Onion released a video of this very same concept. It's a made-up piece that almost perfectly mirrors McKnight's lawsuit. An adult actress calls her black co-star the N-word, and the public revolts. They’re disgusted with the woman who used the slur, and refuse to continue buying her smut.

But the video is satire. It uses irony to ridicule our society — to highlight that everybody knows porn is racist, and nobody really cares.

It’s a bit of an open secret that the porn industry is racist. Actresses will often refuse to work with black actors, or if they agree to, demand premium pay — two or three times their usual rate.

Some say porn is a reflection of our society. Others say it’s pure fantasy, with no basis in the real world.

But McKnight’s lawsuit doesn’t aim to dictate what should and shouldn’t be featured in pornography. His grievance is about what happens behind the scenes.

His lawsuit would force the industry to recognize that even black male sex workers have the right to a work environment free of hostility and discrimination. Consent is everything in sex — from bondage to butt stuff — and Monster Moe said they couldn't call him n*****.