Did Porn Star James Deen Try To Block Documentary On Rape Claims?
Variety reported on Monday that filmmaker Maria Demopoulos is filing a lawsuit against porn star James Deen for allegedly sabotaging the documentary film his company hired her to make in December 2015.
Demopoulos was hired before Deen found himself at the center of a flurry of rape allegations, starting with a tweet from his ex-girlfriend, Stoya, in December 2015. Although a rough cut of the film was ready by the end of 2015, both Demopoulos and Showtime agreed that she should include references to the rape allegations in the final cut.
After completing several interviews with Deen’s accusers, Demopoulos delivered a final version to the studio in July 2016 and says Deen signed off on the new footage.
This is where things get dicey.
According to the lawsuit, Demopoulos is accusing Deen of entering her office in October 2016 and persuading a production assistant to hand over a binder full of signed release forms, which Demopoulos needs in order to legally air the documentary. She also maintains that the move was captured on the security camera.
The suit also accuses Deen of telling Demopoulos that, because he owns the production company, he controls the release of the film.
Demopoulos is asking for at least $150 thousand.
Becky Scott is the editor of The Schmooze. Follow her on Twitter at @arr_scott
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a Passover gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Dive In
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion My Jewish moms group ousted me because I work for J Street. Is this what communal life has come to?
- 2
News Student protesters being deported are not ‘martyrs and heroes,’ says former antisemitism envoy
- 3
Fast Forward Suspected arsonist intended to beat Gov. Josh Shapiro with a sledgehammer, investigators say
- 4
News Who is Alan Garber, the Jewish Harvard president who stood up to Trump over antisemitism?
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward Dozens of members of UK’s largest Jewish group sign letter condemning war in Gaza
-
Culture Actor Ben Platt says his Jewish identity is ‘not defined’ by Israel, showing a gap between him and his influential family
-
Fast Forward Shapiro house fire suspect targeted Jewish governor over pro-Israel stances, search warrant says
-
Fast Forward Jewish family killed in New York plane crash
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.