Did Perez Hilton violate a federal obscenity law?
Image by Getty Images via Daylife
Perez Hilton, the brash, big-mouthed, wildly popular celebrity blogger that everyone loves to hate, may have violated a federal obscenity law when he posted an explicit adult video clip to his widely-read site earlier this week.
In the post, Hilton fingered Chuy Bravo, the sidekick of comedienne Chelsea Handler on her late-night talk show, “Chelsea Lately,” as a sometimes adult film performer. To prove it, he posted the explicit box covers of an adult movie, “Chuy Then and Lately,” and a hardcore video clip featuring what appears to be Chuy. But, in doing so, Hilton may have run afoul of obscenity laws that strictly dictate the terms under which pornographic content can appear online.
[NB: Some of the links that appear in this post lead to adult content.]
According to AVN.com [NSFW], the online home of Adult Video News, the adult movie industry’s trade publication, Hilton’s March 15 post, “Chuy Is an Official Porn Star!” [NSFW], does not follow 18 U.S.C. § 2257 guidelines. The code requires websites that post explicit sexual content to comply to various regulations and rules, including a link to a “2257 compliance statement containing the name and address of the custodian of records, who is required to keep records relating to the age and identity of the performers in the content, as well as other information,” writes AVN.com’s Tom Hymes. Hilton’s post doesn’t.
2257 regulations were born out of the Child Protection and Obscenity Enforcement Act of 1988, and it may behoove Hilton to note that “Federal inspectors may at any time launch inspections of these records and prosecute any infraction.” The vast majority of producers of adult content are intimately familiar with the finer nuances of the regulations and follow them dutifully so as not to be targeted by the Feds. And it’s not only those who produce adult content that must comply; it includes so-called “secondary producers,” defined as “anyone who ‘publishes, reproduces, or reissues’ explicit material.” Including Perez.
The Obama administration has made it clear that it has little interest in restarting the so-called “War on Porn” that began and fizzled out under the Bush administration. Surely, Attorney General Eric Holder has bigger fish to fry than those who are involved in the dissemination of midget porn. Besides, porn is everywhere you look nowadays. Historically, though, federal obscenity indictments have followed a “cherry-picking” pattern. Those who flout the rules and are the most high profile are targeted. Suffice to say, you never know.
Of course, most Americans don’t care about 2257 regulations. They figure that’s business of the sort left to sex-crazed bloggers and San Fernando Valley pornographers. Yet, with the rise of sexting and the proliferation of adult content being generated by people who don’t consider themselves pornographers using cellphones and video cameras, it may seem like someone else’s problem — until, that is, the adult content features someone you know, or, say, you, and the regulators have left the building.
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I saw that clip on his site, and there’s no question Perez posted explicit material (albeit with a warning and a page jump). There’s also not much doubt that he isn’t afraid to cross the line when he thinks it’ll get him a lot of views; witness the infamous lawsuit history of the site.
That said, I also don’t think there’s any doubt that the performers were all of legal age, and that’s what people will care about. He might be fined, but he’ll probably just be ordered to take it down.
What’s stupid is, he’s got access to the technology to render that video SFW, and he just plain didn’t bother taking the time to do it. It’s not THAT big a story to risk your site over!
I got burned by Perez Hilton last June using my mobile phone to check his website in an airport. The link to the article about photos of someone having gay sex connected directly to pictures of the guy having gay sex. The weird thing was that my laptop computer had the required warning but my iPhone didn’t. I deleted Perez from my bookmarks on my iPhone because sometimes I hand it to my kid to keep her occupied in airports.
He really does need to be more careful.
[...] Susannah Breslin discusses a claim by Adult Video News that Perez Hilton may have violated U.S. child porn laws by posting an explicit video of Chelsea Handler sidekick Chuy Bravo. According to AVN.com [NSFW], the online home of Adult Video News, the adult movie industry’s trade publication, Hilton’s March 15 post, “Chuy Is an Official Porn Star!” [NSFW], does not follow 18 U.S.C. § 2257 guidelines. The code requires websites that post explicit sexual content to comply to various regulations and rules, including a link to a “2257 compliance statement containing the name and address of the custodian of records, who is required to keep records relating to the age and identity of the performers in the content, as well as other information,” writes AVN.com’s Tom Hymes. Hilton’s post doesn’t. [...]
Laws don’t matter…..this is the Obama era…and there is nothing Paris Hilton can do which is as obscene as the Obama, Pelsoi, Reid threesome…..as they fuck America every which way
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