Less Than Half of Models Are Black on New Black-Focused Gay Porn Site, Noir Male

Porn has a pretty obvious racism problem. One site trying to help has already garnered some criticism.

This week, porn director ChiChi LaRue debuted his brand new porn site, Noir Male. Made by the producers of Icon Male, the site says it “breaks free from the stereotypes and conventions of typical interracial gay porn.”

“No body part is off-limits, and no desire out of reach, in scorching hot black and interracial encounters, where the preconceptions of tops and bottoms, who sucks dick and who gets rimmed, becomes a thing of the past,” the site’s description reads. “Blending classic elegance with modern style, Noir Male showcases black men as they deserve to be seen – sensual, sexual and unapologetically fine.”

But, as first pointed out by Str8UpGayPorn, the studio launched with a slate of 29 models, less than half of which identified as Black. According to the gay porn news site’s count, only 13 of the 29 models are either Black or mixed race, while the other 16 are white.

Actor Billy Santoro (who, to be fair, is currently in the middle of a legal battle with Icon Male) criticized the site on his personal blog, saying that Noir Male failed to put its models at the center of the marketing push.

“I’ll tell you why,” Santoro said. “There is still that fear that black men simply do not sell in gay porn.”

He added, “Some advice for Noir Male. Don’t fetishize a race! You can use your content methods, but focus more on being relatable rather than watching a big black dick fuck.”

One commenter on the original Str8UpGayPorn article wrote, “‘Showcases black men as they deserve to be seen’ …having sex with white men?”

The (very NSFW) Noir Male site launched with a slate of videos, all of which are interracial and include titles like “BBC Massage” and “Big Black Daddy.”

Racism in porn has been a hot-button issue since November, when the GayVN Awards instituted an awards category called “Best Ethnic Scene,” which they eventually removed after the announcement drew ire from the queer community. Several porn actors, including GayVN nominee Hugh Hunter, spoke out against the category and Hunter removed himself from awards consideration.

In June, Lucas Entertainment released a film called Black Cocks Matter. One of the film’s actors revealed on Twitter that he was not told about the title when he agreed to appear in the film. The studio eventually changed the film’s title to Black Cocks Rule.

In July, porn actor Bruno Bernal refused to apologize for his use of the n-word. Recently, porn site Sean Cody also referred to one of its Black actors as “chocolate skinned.”

Image via Noir Male