Warning: Some links refer to sexually explicit sites.
From Chicago comes disturbing news of unsafe health practices and exploitative working conditions involving a well-known gay Internet porn site that specializes in the use of Black and Latino models.
The Chicago Free Press reports that Department of Health officials there have slapped a cease and desist order on the owners of FlavaWorks.com, which operates a live sex website, CocoDorm.com, where these young men of color, typically between the ages of 18 and 24, engage in sexual acts that can be viewed by subscribers for a fee. FlavaWorks.com also produces videos and magazines. The activities include unprotected sex, and the Health Department claims the business has knowingly allowed the spread of HIV and other sexually-transmitted diseases.
Christopher Brown, assistant commissioner for HIV/AIDS/STD programs at CDPH, said health officials acted after uncovering “credible” evidence that models at FlavaWorks.com, which also operated CocoBoyz Dorm Room online, were HIV-positive, were engaging in unsafe sex practices and were spreading HIV, syphilis and gonorrhea through contact with individuals outside the business.
Brown said CDPH’s initial involvement came in late December after HIV service providers called CDPH to express “concerns that some of their clients could be seen on the website engaging in unsafe sex.”
“We also became aware of cases of HIV linked to some of the models,” Brown said.
While the models are Black and Latino, the owner of the company, Phillip Bleicher, is White.
Brown said the business owner had been “less than cooperative” with city officials’ efforts to stop the spread of HIV and other diseases and get CocoBoyz models in for counseling, treatment and testing.
“Our main concern was the dorm,” Brown said. “Our goal is to immediately look at the models, screen them and address their needs.”
“We had evidence and reports from what I would consider credible sources that there was HIV and STDs among the models at CocoBoyz dorm room, and unsafe sex could be viewed right there on the website,” Brown said.
Equally distressing are reports centering around the conditions under which the young men worked. Most of them are reportedly at-risk youths, runaways, homeless and easily manipulated.
There are also allegations that the business used unusual labor contracts with its models, which, according to one source, “at least bordered on illegal servitude.” The 30-day contracts allegedly required the models to perform a certain number of sexual acts in exchange for a stipend. But, when the models tried to collect the stipends, they were told they were being charged for such things as food and bed linens, leaving them, in some cases, in debt rather than collecting money. They were then pressured to sign new contracts.
No one is discounting the role that pornography plays in the lives of many people. The worldwide adult entertainment industry generates more than $12 billion annually, so clearly a lot of us, myself included, consume our fair share.
But once again we are faced with the question, do the lives of gay men of color have any value beyond sexual objectification?
No one who produces porn should be allowed to exploit models, particularly young ones. No one should be allowed to knowingly put another person’s life at risk of disease. That a White business owner was apparently dismissive of the needs and concerns of his young Black and Latino performers should be cause for alarm. It should also make consumers re-evaluate how we spend our dollars and force us to demand a greater measure of social responsibility on the part of producers.
25 comments ↓
Wow. What an important story. Thanks for covering this.
So sad… very well put, Bernie
Thank you for posting this story about Cocoboyz. A friend sent it to me in an email. I was contacted by them a couple of months ago about appearing on their site. For some reason there was a delay in scheduling me. Sometimes the Lord works in mysterious ways I tell you.
I have searched the internet for more information about this story, but I have found nothing further. I feel that as long as we have Black/Latino companies run by white men, we will continue to hear tragic stories such as these. I do not know the people that own Cocoboyz, but I have a feeling that the models they use are seen simply as a commodities, their only function being to bring in revenue and get them off. Just because someone chooses to work in the field of Adult Entertainment, doesn’t mean that they are any less of a person or any less deserving of respect. I find this story very sad indeed.
I would also like to bring it to everyone’s attention that Cocoboyz works in several large cities along the east coast and in the south. Even if their production in Chicago is shut down, they can still operate in other cities, so more than likely nothing will change. I would love to hear some of the models and the owners account.
Altirique
Altirique, thanks for adding your unique perspective on this.
Thanks for posting this, Bernie. I recently found out about the situation but haven’t formalized a response. It’s a multi-leveled situation that should spark serious conversation in our respective communities. But we shall see.
I was wondering how much play this story would get…
Thanks for letting us know about this problem. I don’t like CoCo Dorm that much. I prefer…
(oops)
Here’s what I can do, I can use a condom EVERY SINGLE TIME I have sex. I can tell my good girlfriends to use them too; no matter how so-called “straight” or “butch” or “DL” the cat they’re messing with is supposed to be.
I can stay connected to local agencies that are supportive of Gay Black Men and if I encounter an at-risk young person, instead of trying to one-night them, I can attempt to hook them up with some sane support, in hopes that they will make sane decisions for their futures; and not go off into the dark with a pimp.
I can also vote with my dollars, I won’t support coco-dorm or any of it’s sister sites. Thank you for pointing this situation out to us.
Adarro
New York
Hey Bernie, thanks for that story. I was actually introduced to the issue of these Cocoboyz’s practices by another blogger who had first hand account of them. It’s very sad that boys who have nowhere else to go, who feel that they have no other options, go to these sort of places and get taken advantage of. I don’t know if it would be any different if the owner were a man of color.
It sounds almost illegal though. These boys live in this dorm and must perform a certain number of sexual acts per week for pay.
Me.
I am so glad that you covered this article, it brings up so many vital issues that are not getting enough attention in our community. I think this tragedy got some of its roots from a Blog/Podcast. A few months ago Bernard Bradshaw of the Blog/Podcast “Sex and the Second City” brought up concerns about men of color appearing in bareback porn for Ty Lattamore’s production company. There was a large online controversy about a Black owned porn company exploiting its performers for the sake of making cash with “raw” porn. The issue of White owned companies like FlavaWorks being neglectful of the safety of their performers and making “Raw” porn was brought up only as a given.
Bernards Blog/Podcast even went so far as to describe a sex party that Bernard attended that played host to several of the stars from FlavaWorks productions and Bernard described the use (not by himself but by most everyone else in attendance) of Crystal Meth. He described the hyper-sexed nature of the guys due to the drugs and the lack of the ability to get or maintain an erection; he also described the rampant lack of condom use at the party. Bernard is an advocate of Safe Sex and uses his Blog/Podcast to promote a healthy sexual lifestyle. He used his platform to expose the unsafe practices of the guys from FlavaWorks as well as the bareback videos being produced by Ty Lattamore. Ty directly responded to Bernard’s claims and posted several mass emails about his personal and professional views on “Raw” porn. Please check out http://www.sexandthesecondcity.com for more on that issue.
In these days when bareback porn (with performers of all races) reaching the top of the sales charts we need to look at the wide spread view that HIV is not a problem anymore. With all the new drugs that treat HIV/AIDS and the omnipresent advertising by drug companies that sell living with HIV as a vacation or mountain climbing adventure we need to wake up and realize that this is still a deadly disease. The younger generation of SGL men like those featured in the films of FlavaWorks grew up in an age when HIV/AIDS did not seem like a death sentence. We even have the wife of Magic Johnson, perhaps the most famous HIV+ person living today, giving interviews in witch she claims her husband has been cured and is HIV free by the power of “Prayer”. Unlike those of us who came to sexual maturity in the 80’s or 90’s who lost many friends to this disease, most of our younger brothers have not felt that loss. We must also recognize the onslaught of drugs like Crystal Meth witch is destroying SGL men of all races and acknowledge the fact that HIV rates among Black SGL men has arguably reached 46% or higher.
FlavaWorks.com has been selling “Raw” sex for a long time and many of us have either bought it, rented it, or had our blogs sponsored by them. Anyone who is familiar with erotic art featuring men of color did not need this article to know that unsafe sex was going on, its all over their site. The financial abuse that has been brought to light is shocking and I hope these guys get help but all one needed to do to see that these guys were having unsafe sex and using illegal drugs is to watch the trailers for the videos they sell. All of witch is still available at the site; many of these videos even have “Raw” in the titles.
It seems shortsighted to let our attention go no further then the race of Phillip Bleicher and all the illegal actions he took. We as a community supported his product so much that his was the #1 supplier in gay porn featuring men of color. We as a community have allowed HIV rates to soar. We as a community saw obvious signs of drug abuse and looked the other way. In this era of big corporate abuses, can we really expect anything better from our porn companies then we do from our oil companies? Corporations and the people who run them have always abused the little guy. We as consumers may not have the choice when it comes to supporting an ethical oil company but we do have the power to support porn companies that are good to their talent and always practice safer sex. The guys over at Tiger Tyson productions always use condoms and have some of the most generous contracts with their performers of all the adult entertainment companies out there.
We all need to take more responsibility for ourselves as consumers and as members of the larger SGL & GLBT community. Drug abuse and soaring HIV rates are destroying us and we all need to pay more attention to issues like what has happened here. To that point I feel that letting the tragedy that has taken place here become no more then a reason to blame the race of the owner of this company would be an even larger tragedy.
This absolutely breaks my heart…how very heartless, irresponsible and tragic! Thank you for sharing this very important information! Be safe!
There is social/financial rung of the ladder so low and disempowered that even the vast majority of black people have no idea it’s there. I’ve spent some time there over the last few years. Imagine, for a moment, that you are 16 years old, gay, dropped out of high school, poor, and got kicked out of your home. What does your life look like at 21? What choices did you have? Where did you go and what did you do? Believe it or not, the evil exploiters can look like (and sometimes in fact be) your very best option.
This is a crazy story! I think that so much has been said in comments already that reflect how I feel as well. I think the Chicago GLBT community should be in an uproar and should try to seek legal prosecution of the owner of Flava. I agree that the larger issue of how porn sex workers are treated should be dealt with, but one can’t overlook the race of the owner and how he abused and mistreated these young Black and Latino men. He should, no questions asked in my mind, be imprisoned if these charges can be founded. We CANNOT keep allowing the lives of our young men of color to continually be viewed as expendable at the hands of anyone, whether str8 or gay, black or white. I’m glad that public health officials in Chicago are taking leadership to get these young men the help they need.
I shared this article with a lot of friends. I am glad that the authorities stepped in…that’s all I’m gonna say because I said a lot about this since Friday.
I’m not surprised by the reaction of our community. I belive that this is a wake up call for us all to look the explotation of young people of color across the board in the porn industry.
I’m stunned! Thank you for bringing this to my attention. No one should be exploited and lives endangered in this way!
Bernie -
Thank you so much for this post.
It makes me think of the ways in which Black people still get exploited, and the lack of outrage at the ways in which we can still be put in debt peonage/indentured labor scenarios, and nobody else seems to care.
ALSO…did anyone notice the story on the front cover of the Chicago Free press with the Black man arrested for murdering a Transgender person?
This is just disturbing news. I have seen movies and from the looks of the models, they seem to be awfully young.
I always said that the best thing I learned while reading _Hung_ was that porn directors/producers are not making porn that might be good for us (i.e. people of color, but especially B/black and Latino males), but porn that is good for them, that they can look at and get off on… it doesn’t shock me that this is happening, but it does piss me right the f**k off.
… and this isn’t even militant monday!
Good work, Bernie.
Wow look at how Phil Bleicher funded his Flavamen Magazine and paid his Cocodorm Models. That guy is very dishonest it seems. I seen the guy he use to be this big ol fat thing. Now he is as skinny as a twig, thanks to the Liposucton that he paid for with Chartible Funds. This article will show you guys how dishonest this guy really is.
http://www.chicagojournal.com/main.asp?SectionID=25&SubSectionID=55&ArticleID=1250&TM=67608.53
Great dialog, but it is not going to do anything to stop this guy. As I type, he continues to make millions from exploiting young gay black males. Black labor, white wealth is nothing new, but this is an extremely disgusting case of it. Phillip Bleicher is a dorky early 30’s white guy. The models are poor black (and some latino) guys who were vulnerable and led to the river by the Pied Piper, Phillip Bleicher, to their ultimate demise, just like the fairy tale. Ok, so we know all of that, but now, what can be done to stop this guy? He’s STILL in business. Any ATTORNEYS reading this? How about a class-action lawsuit from the models? If his labor practices have directly caused them to contract HIV, he should be criminally held responsible for their medical care as well as pain and suffering, etc. He also should go to prison because he’s a criminal. He used to run the Student Leadership Network, a phony charity that stole millions from high schools across the country. And he STILL runs all of the Coco enterprises (the site is still up and the videos can still be purchased and rented). Phillip Bleicher is the one laughing all the way to the bank while his victims are out there suffering.
Here are picture’s of Phillip Bleicher, aka “Lukebaby”:
http://membersa.blackplanet.com/lukebaby/
First of all i believe that it is time to hear from a model’s prospective. If some of you had to go through the things that I have had to go through because of these rumors…its crazy. Yes the company made raw videos, is that rare in the straight porn market…no. It’s time to be real for a second this thing was never about Raw videos or diseases. IT HAS BEEN AND WILL CONTINUE TO BE ABOUT THE FACT THAT OUR OWNER IS WHITE. And the comment made by J about him having liposuction is false and I believe that whomever J is has worked with us and had a personal problem with him. And also if all this were tre don’t you think he would over 350 lawsuits from other models who supposedly have been in contact with all these disesease. Since I am a model and a criminal justice major i would have been the first to file a lawsuit against him. And also to comment on another one of J’s Lies he states that the models are poor lol i personally know that is not true many of us do this not just for them oney but for the experience Hell who dosen’t enjoy sex lol. but anyway you will believe what you wish but I felt obligated to express things from a models point of view and many of us who had to continue to go to the clinic 7 times in on3 month because of these alligations feel the same.
I THINK PHILLIP BLEICHER MANAGER OF FLAVA SHOULD BE BROUGHT UP ON CRIMINAL CHARGES FOR KNOWINGLY EXPOSEING MODELS TO HIV/AND OR OTHER DIEASES….
I never knew this was going on. Thanks for enlightening me to this evil pursuit of wealth by the owner. Criminal charges should just be a start of the punishment the owner should receive. How can this occur in the new millenium?