A Canadian porn star has died unexpectedly, just days after facing a storm of homophobia accusations online.
August Ames, 23, was found dead in southern California on Tuesday (local time). The adult film star, who friends say was suffering from depression, had previously suffered a torrent of online abuse for declaring she wouldn't be participate in a scene with a male colleague who had previously done gay porn.
On December 3, Ames posted a message to Twitter, reading; "whichever (lady) performer is replacing me tomorrow for @EroticaXNews, you're shooting with a guy who has shot gay porn, just to let cha know".
She called the decision "BS".
"Do agents really not care about who they're representing? #LAdirect I do my homework for my body."
The tweet drew intense criticism from both fans and colleagues, with both male and female actors weighing in.
"I think it's hilarious that you're discriminating against a man who does/did gay porn when half of this industry has performed with such performers. ALLLLLLL performers must subject to the SAME testing in order to work," Alexis Monroe replied.
"It's extremely unfair to be black listed because a ridiculous naive stigmatism created by unethical homophobes," Eli Hunter weighed in.
"I have been doing films for over 8 years and have never contracted anything because my health and safety comes first. So yes, offence taken."
Ames replied to many of the tweets, including one fan who asked, "so you're homophobic?"
"How am I homophobic if I myself am attracted to women? Not wanting to have sex with gay men is not homophobic; they don't want to have sex with me either so byeeeee," she replied.
"NOT homophobic. Most girls don't shoot with guys who have shot gay porn, for safety. That's just how it is with me. I'm not putting my body at risk, i don't know what they do in their private lives," she wrote in another message.
In her final tweet, sent on Tuesday night (local time), she simply wrote, "F*** y'all."
Her husband, adult film director Kevin Moore released a statement to Adult Video News magazine.
"She was the kindest person I ever knew and she meant the world to me," he said.
"Please leave this as a private family matter in this difficult time." Police told local media her cause of death was still being investigated but was not being treated as suspicious.
Newshub.
