March 6, 2008 | The Biz

BBC probes HIV and bareback porn

A BBC news story revealing HIV infections among four young men after performing in bareback videos is causing stirs through the British gay porn industry. In the aftermath of the investigation and mainstream media coverage, the production company responsible for the video, ICREME, announced that it will no longer produce bareback titles. 

The story was first covered in late October by the British gay publication Boyz; it had until now been largely ignored by the mainstream press. 

Britans are understandably sensitive about the issue of HIV/AIDS. Among gay men in Britain infection rates are the highest they have been since the beginning of the epidemic: 2,700  were diagnosed with HIV last year alone.

Will ICREME stick to its commitment? We doubt it, for a few reasons.  

1. ICREME specializes in bareback and had a stringent HIV screening regimen in place, which it stridently defended in print in a recent issue of Boyz magazine.  To make such an about-face in policy when the BBC starts asking questions strikes us as insincere.

2. ICREME is a content producer rather than a brand. It arranges shoots and then sells the scenes to numerous studios and distributors. Since there is little brand value in the name itself it would be relatively easy for it to reconstitute itself under another name and continue business as usual.

3. ICREME lies. On a page on its website aimed at recruiting models, it states that "most of the successful gay porn companies" shoot without condoms. This is simply untrue. If the company  lies to its own models, what is to stop it from lying to the press?  

And another reason that ICREME may decide to fade away as an entity: its Director of Administration was until very recently Rufus Ffoulkes, who is going to jail for filming an underage model and, it turns out, has a rap sheet as long as his arm.

If ever there was a time for a company to begin anew, it's now.