Jewish Porn Star Joanna Angel Calls James Deen a ‘Scary Person’
Joanna Angel and James Deen. Image by Getty Images
Jewish porn star Joanna Angel said she feared for her safety during her six-year relationship with fellow porn actor James Deen.
Angel called Deen a “scary person” in an interview Wednesday on the Jason Ellis SiriusXM radio show, the Daily Beast reported.
Angel’s allegations come less than a week after another of Deen’s ex-girlfriends, the porn actress Stoya, accused him of raping her. Two other adult film actresses have also alleged Deen sexually assaulted them.
Deen has denounced the claims against him on Twitter.
Angel, who grew up religiously observant and attended Jewish day schools and summer camps, runs the alternative porn website BurningAngel.com.
She told Ellis that Deen once kept her head underwater so long that she thought she would die, and that she woke up on several occasions to find him choking her in his sleep.
She tweeted to Stoya after her accusations: “You have my support @stoya. I’m here for you.”
Angel said Wednesday that Deen’s behavior does not represent the porn industry. “I do not want people to blame porn. I think he is a bad egg. Please don’t blame the industry,” she said.
Deen, 29, born Bryan Sevilla, had been called a “feminist hero” and the “boy next door” of the porn industry for his average stature and boyish looks. An often-cited magazine profile describes him as “polite,” “self-deprecating” and someone who “speaks well of everyone,” in contrast to other male porn stars who sport “neck chains,” “unreasonable biceps” and “tribal tattoos.”
In the same article, Deen calls himself someone who cracks Jewish jokes and has an “overanalytical Jewish brain.” He has also elsewhere called himself a feminist.
Deen also has a history of joking about rape on Twitter.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
