February 18, 2013 | The Biz

Bel Ami responds to The Sword's racism charge

Last Wednesday, the ever cheeky The Sword took Bel Ami to task for downplaying Austin Merrick's ethnicity on his recent appearance on the gay porn site.

The article was titled "Bel Ami Tries To Appease Racist Bel Ami Members who Hate Black People by Reminding them that Austin Merrick Isn't Actually a Full Black Person," and it referenced the scene description: 'For those who criticize [Bel Ami founder George Duroy] for featuring non white models, Austin is mulatto.'

On its own, that doesn't sound very good.

But Bel Ami quickly set things straight. 

"What happened is a misprint, not a racial attack," explained George Duroy. The description was supposed to read 'For those who criticize (GDuroy) for featuring ONLY white models, Austin is mulatto.'

"The person who was re-writing the comment online in the Prague office is not a native speaker and didn’t realize the (huge) difference in the meaning," added Duroy.

But why not use more non-white models? "I was repeatedly accused of “racism” by some because I don’t use different ethnicities," he said. "We live and create our programming in an ethnically homogenous region of Central Europe. Walking the streets of Bratislava I have the opportunity to see an African-American (or only African or Latino) about twice a year. It doesn’t mean we are racist. We simply work with the material we have."

That makes sense, though it does make one wonder why some studios based in North America don't more accurately reflect its diverse population.   

Bel Ami's George Duroy: Austin Merrick scene description a 'misprint' [The Sword]