Adult film actors Cameron Bay and Rod Daily spoke at a press conference on Wednesday alongside the AIDS Healthcare Foundation to talk about their experiences in the porn industry and stress the use of condoms on set.
Bay, who was the first porn actress to come forward as being HIV positive, caused the first of two moratoriums for the industry, causing filming to shut down. Her on-screen partners needed to test negative in order to continue production.
However, her real-life boyfriend and fellow Kink.com actor Rod Daily test positive soon, and three more actors tested positive for HIV. The Free Speech Coalition, trade group that monitors STD testing of performers, has only confirmed one of the three actors who tested HIV positive.
There has been no confirmation by Kink.com, The Free Speech Coaltion, AIDS Healthcare Foundation or the HIV positive actors as to where they contracted the deadly infection.
During the press conference, five performers spoke about the "dangers and uncertainty" of adult film production, according to Huffington Post. Bay recalled a specific scene where a fellow actor sustained an injury to his penis.
"There were up to 50 people in the room with us. And we were laying on top of them. And they were touching inappropriately," Bay said. "It all happened so fast. I didn't realize how unsafe it was until I saw the pictures ... You're on a whole other level when you're doing something so extreme."
Though Bay was offered a condom by Kink.com after the actor sustained a cut to his penis, she choose not to wear one, claiming she knew she would be "replaced" if she made the actor wear one.
Daily also spoke about his experiences while filming gay porn; he's been in the industry since 2005.
"That's 12 years that I've shot with HIV-positive people, used condoms and never been HIV-positive," Daily said. "If anything, I know that condoms do work. I was a guinea pig for that."
"I just don't know how an industry stands here and says they care so much about their performers and, a week after someone tests positive, they're out there shooting without condoms," Daily said. "Ultimately, it's a business, and their main concern is money and not their performers."
Kink.com owner told the Los Angeles Times that studio has been their policies and procedures "long before" the incident with Bay.
"Ms. Bay's shoot caused us concern long before the subject of HIV came up," he wrote. "While HIV was not transmitted on set, there were incidents on that shoot, including some of the same ones that Ms. Bay identified, that have caused us to reevaluate what we permit on shoots involving members of the public, even when it's consensual."
AIDS Healthcare Foundation has been pushing lawmakers to make condoms legally required for performers to wear on set.
