Butts: That's a wrap!

As the porn industry reels from an HIV scare, "gonzo" king Seymore Butts announces a condom-only policy. He tells Salon why.

By Scott Lamb

Apr 22, 2004 | In the week since reports broke that two adult performers -- Darren James and Lara Roxx -- had tested positive for HIV, the $10 billion a year porn industry has come to a near-total standstill. The Adult Industry Medical Health Care Foundation called for a 60-day stoppage of filming, to allow time to put together a list of about 60 performers possibly exposed and then test them for the virus. Along with that has come a lot of finger-pointing and even calls for possible industry regulation, or "condom police."

The porn industry began voluntary HIV testing in 1998, with the last major outbreak in 1999, when actor Tony Montana tested positive. But while regular testing has become a part of the industry, wearing condoms has not, and even in the middle of the current scare some production companies oppose the ban on shooting and the idea that condoms should be required.

Seymore Butts, aka Adam Glasser, is not one of them. On Monday, he announced that he would now require all the performers in his movies to wear condoms. The statement is particularly noteworthy because Butts, the star of his own Showtime reality TV show, "Family Business," is the biggest name in gonzo porn,, a huge part of the porn business, which employs a vérité style that tries hard to seem spontaneous. (It has gotten him into trouble: In 2001 he was charged with misdemeanor obscenity for a fisting scene from "Tampa Tushy Fest," but the charge was later dropped.) Butts has never worked with James or Roxx, but says he's determined not to have someone who works for him become infected. He's just not sure how he's going to incorporate a new prop into his shoots -- condoms have made only rare appearances in the Butts' oeuvre.

Salon spoke to Butts by phone from Los Angeles.

Will this outbreak change the way the industry works?

I thought it might, but with people coming out and saying that it's going to just be business as usual, I don't know. Are the talent united in the sense that they want changes? Yes. I've heard of people wanting more testing, but then you're still relying on people's honesty. Even with the testing, no matter what you do, there's going to be a risk, because there's a lapse between getting [HIV] and the tests picking it up.

You have to remember, there is no union. There are industry organizations, but there is no governing body -- there is nobody that is that influential. Talent is a very nomadic type of group. A lot of people come into the industry, make some quick money, and then they're gone and no one sees them again.

The truth is that we've done such a good job that some people have been lured into a false sense of security. Since 1989, we've averaged about 50,000 sexual contacts per year. That's 750,000 sexual contacts with less than 15 documented cases of HIV. That's more than pretty good. We're a mostly self-regulated group.

But with this, it shows how close a network we are. One guy's test came up positive, and now there are 65 people who have been quarantined.

I've heard a lot of people saying that they'll go elsewhere -- to another state, or another country. To me that just doesn't seem to be a great solution. Some other state isn't just going to let some group come in and start shooting thousands of sex scenes, without getting involved.

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