In James Deen's new interview with The Daily Beast (to which the beleaguered porn performer agreed on the condition that it would be published in its entirety), he flatly denies each of the sexual assault claims that have been made against him, beginning with when his ex and former screen partner, Stoya, tweeted that Deen had raped her. (The ninth and most recent claim comes from Farrah Abraham, who told The Daily Mail that Deen "raped, drugged and abused" her; Deen's interview with The Daily Beast took place before The Daily Mail published its story on Abraham's allegations yesterday.)
"All of the accusations are from either ex-girlfriends or events that happened on set," Deen said. "If at any point I pushed boundaries past the point of comfort, I am sorry. I have always tried to respect peoples’ limits and safe words and operated within that space. If someone expressed anything to me I honored the request with the fullest care."
As for why his ex-girlfriend Stoya might have accused him, Deen has some thoughts. "What I do know is that Stoya and I did not have a clean breakup," he told The Daily Beast. "The reason Stoya made this claim could be as simple as her finding out that my current girlfriend and I are moving in together... It could be as calculated as Stoya trying to drive traffic to her website."
The interview goes on to address the sexual assault claims against Deen one by one, and he denies each of them. "Multiple women have told me journalists have offered them up to five thousand dollars for stories about me," he says. "Any description of a porn scene can be made to sound sensational... At this point I am just waiting for everyone who has ever disliked me ever from my entire life to come out with some extreme story or interpretation of how horrible I am."
He also stood by past rape jokes he has made on Twitter, explaining, "I have always had a dark sense of humor... I operate outside of the overly-PC public world we live in." Deen concludes by stating that he is not under investigation, not the subject of any lawsuits, and does not intend to sue any of his accusers for defamation — and so, for now at least, the mounting accusations against him will stay out of the courtroom.
Still, in the face of nine women's horrific claims against the performer, neither public opinion nor the porn world is on Deen's side. Last week, he resigned as chairperson of the Adult Performer Advocacy Committee’s board of directors, while pornography studios Kink.com and Evil Angel and performer Tasha Reign announced that they were cutting professional ties with Deen.
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